Clock Tower
by Techne
Summary: Jennifer and her friends have been adopted by the mysterious Barrows family. Everything seems fine and the girls are loving their first night staying at their new home, that is, until someone begins killing them one by one. Will Jennifer and her friends live to see dawn? Or will they fall victim to the predator that hunts in the darkness? -A Novel of Clock Tower: The First Fear.-
1. Chp 1: It Happened in September

**Clock Tower**  
A Novelization of Clock Tower: The First Fear

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Story is rated MATURE for disturbing content and adult situations. Please be warned that it is meant for a mature audience only.

I have taken a few liberties with this game, modernizing it to make it appeal to the more modern day fans and also to give it a more believable story. The ages of the girls have significantly increased, as I think that four fourteen year old girls being slaughtered by a murderer is a bit much and is not really something I would be comfortable with writing. I also plan to add a lot of new things to the story as well, incorporating some of my own ideas into this masterpiece of a game, while also holding onto what the game was meant to represent.

Questions, comments, and reviews are always welcome.

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**Chapter One**  
**It Happened in September**

**"We all live in suspense, from day to day, from hour to hour; in other words, we are the hero of our own story."**

**- Mary McCarthy, American author (1912-1989).**

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The halls of the Granite Orphanage were unsettlingly quiet as Samantha Taylor walked down the hallway to where her office was at. On any given day, the young girls who crowded the halls would be laughing and playing, skipping past her as they played their games of tag. It amused her when they played. The interest of the girls were always an integral part that kept the orphanage running, so she was delighted whenever they were seen enjoying themselves, despite the tragedies most of them had gone through upon their arrival.

Now.

The halls were empty.

It was well past the scheduled playtime on the grounds for them, so she should have expected as much.

At the end of the hall, her office door stood open.

That was odd.

It hadn't been open when she'd begun her daily rounds earlier or at least, that's what Samantha had thought. Leaving her wondering why exactly it was standing open, the possibility of someone having entered her office was likely, but also improbable.

Upon reaching the door, she slowly opened it and carefully looked around the room. The small, ordinate office that was where she spent most of her time during the day was empty. The ordinary furniture: a small desk, two chairs and a fish tank appeared untouched. Several bookcases that lined one side of the wall, stocked mostly with child psychology and other random books. Nothing to fancy to spare herself the lack of an office, she didn't like accepting funds to improve her personal life, she'd rather spend what little funds she received from the government to help improve the lives of the many girls.

Walking over to her desk, Samantha sat down in her chair and began looking over the paperwork that she'd been carrying in her hands. Four of the girls that lived on the second floor of the orphanage had been chosen for adoption by a rich senator early yesterday. She was going over all the files one last time to make sure that everything was in order before they were to be picked up by their new families. There hadn't even been time to tell the girls, this puzzled her and for some reason, Samantha couldn't shake a feeling of dread that rested on her shoulders.

She found it strange that a senator would want to out of the blue adopt four girls. Usually a person in a position such as that would be far to busy with their everyday duties to their country to be worried about children. Of course, it wasn't her place to question why a person wanted to adopt, but, it did make her wonder as to what had compelled them to do such a thing.

Sighing, she sat leaned back and closed her eyes while trying to go over everything.

_Okay, so the Barrows sent someone to come pick the girls up in a few hours. I have all the signed paperwork, they look like they will provide a great home for the girls with the income they get every month. This will be a very good start for them._

Looking up from her desk, there was a soft knock on the door, followed by the knob turning and the door swung open.

It was revealed to be one of the other social workers at the orphanage, standing behind her were two of the older girls that Samantha helped look after. Their clothes were filthy and torn, both of their faces were bruised as if they'd been fighting.

"What happened?" She asked. It was nothing out of the ordinary that these two girls would be fighting while outside. Coming from different backgrounds that labeled each other as natural born enemies, when they'd first come to the orphanage three years ago, she'd known from the start they would be trouble.

"I found these two fighting behind the tool shed," She barked, holding the two girls by the sleeves of their jackets and pulling them into her office. "They just won't stop fighting and frankly, I am becoming annoyed that you shelter these two. We have kept them long enough, no one wants to adopt them so why do we even keep them?"

Standing up, she walked around her desk and over to where the two girls stood at. They both looked away from her, not wanting to meet her gaze which told her that they weren't planning on talking after all. This was going to make it more difficult for her to speak with them than it usually was.

"All right, I will talk with both of them," Samantha told the social worker before ushering the two girls to sit down and returning to her desk. "If you'll excuse us, I'll have a chat with them."

When the door shut, she glanced from one girl to the other and tried to determine the best way to speak with them. In her experience with these two girls, it was wise to choose your words carefully or else you would get nowhere with them. That wasn't something that she wanted to have happen either. She particularly liked these two girls, thought of them as well rounded individuals who were strong-willed and could take care of themselves. You could imagine how she felt about having to be the one to talk to them about this.

"So," She said with a smile as she laid her hands palm down on the top of her desk. "What was it this time, girls?"

"This bitch here said I was talking about her behind her back," The one on the right was looking out the window, not even sparing a moments glance to look at her.

"I told you!" The other girl shouted as she glared daggers at her opposite. "I wasn't the one talking about you! It was Michelle. She's so manipulative, that you believe whatever she tells you just because you think she's your friend. When in reality all she cares about is getting a reaction from you."

_Of course!_

Samantha should have known that there was a reason behind why the two girls were fighting with each other. Michelle Harlin was what she liked to refer to as an Alpha Female, always thinking that she controlled what went on behind closed doors at the orphanage. She had no idea though, that Samantha knew everything a girl like her could put on the table. Hell. Before she'd sought out a profession of being a social worker, in high school she'd _been_ in that girls very shoes.

"Mercedes, will you please pay attention when I'm talking to you." She told the girl staring out the window. Lotte turned to look at her, a look of malice plastered to her face that slowly resigned itself to calmness. "Why would you fight Lotte, knowing that Michelle could have been lying to you."

"But Ms. Taylor, I—" Lotte stopped for a moment and then stared down at her lap. Obviously, it had dawned on her of the mistake that she'd made and realized that what she'd done was foolish and misguided.

Satisfied with how she'd gotten through to Lotte, she turned her attention to Mercedes. It had been so easy getting through to Lotte, Samantha was hoping to have the same luck with her. Of course, she knew that it was best to not expect satisfying results from the beginning, but, to work towards them in the long run. Especially when it came to some of the girls that came to this orphanage.

"Michelle told me that Lotte was telling all the girls about me sleeping with that forty-three year old guy for a place to live just before I came here three years ago." Mercedes told her, her arms folded across her dirty shirt as she began to tear up. "I did what I had to do in order to shelter myself. It's not my fault that I had to use my body as payment for this guy to allow me to stay with him in his filthy one bedroom apartment."

It left her speechless that one of the girls would actually spread a rumor around the orphanage like this. What had happened to Mercedes was something that no girl at her age should have to go through. Just thinking of the atrocious things that man had forced her to do with him, anger swelled up inside her at knowing that there were several girls around the world that were still going through this very thing. She'd been one of the lucky ones and had been rescued from that hell hole. The other ones? They weren't so lucky.

"Listen, girls. The two of you are smarter than this, I'm sure that you can get along nicely and not have to worry about what Michelle Harlin will be saying." She hoped that they would be smarter than this in the future. That Ms. Harlin was smart when it came to pulling the strings on the puppets that she controlled—not that either one of the two girls were puppets of hers—so it was easy for her to get away with what she did.

"Yes, Ms. Taylor." They both said in unison.

"Good, now if you'll excuse me, I have some paperwork to finish. Good day, girls."

* * *

Overhead, dark clouds could be seen on the horizon and were coming in fast, the news forecasters had been calling for heavy rain in the evening. A gust of chilling air blew through the courtyard, scattering leaves across the ground. Colors ranging from yellow, to red and even brown. Signs of fall were making themselves known, like the rise and fall of the sun.

Sitting on the stairs that led from the courtyard to the backdoor of the orphanage, Jennifer Simpson watched as the other girls played with one another. They ran back and forth, throwing up the leaves in the air and forming piles of them just to jump in them. You know, the typical things that kids their ages loved to do when playing outside.

Jennifer however, refrained to sit by herself and not interact with any of the girls. It was nothing against them of course, she just felt more at peace with herself when she was alone.

Most of her days were spent alone in her room. It wasn't that she didn't like talking to the other girls at the orphanage, she preferred the company of others over being alone, but, that wasn't the case. A lot of the girls didn't like her because she was different from the rest of them. They often would come across her when she was going through one of her moods where she was staring off into space and crying to herself when she thought of her missing father. Often they'd tease her because of this, but Jennifer had learned to ignore them.

_Girls would be girls_, as Ms. Taylor had once told her.

She didn't know what that had meant at the time because of how young she was, but over the years that Jennifer had been here she was beginning to understand exactly what Ms. Taylor was talking about. It was in a girls nature to want to be the dominate one of their peers. Whether or not a girl had it in her was up to her. You either had it or you didn't. And then there were those who chose to follow, it was a choice to do that and Jennifer never really saw herself as either. Rather, she was the outsider of the group who they often would pick on for being different.

Living at the orphanage since she was very young, Jennifer had never known what it was like to have a family of her own.

Yes, she'd been born into a loving family. From what she'd been told, her father had disappeared when she was younger and then there was her mother, who she had been told died during child birth. She'd been put up for adoption and had been at the Granite Orphanage since then. Being five years old, there wasn't much that she could remember about her parents. At such a young age, most kids wouldn't remember what their lives had been like and for Jennifer, she wasn't sure if she wanted to remember. What had happened to her parents was a tragedy, but she needed to move on with her life.

People always told her how she resembled her mother so much, but Jennifer sometimes assumed they were just trying to be polite. She'd gotten her raven black hair and bright green eyes from her mother, but her naturally pale skin had come from her father. Other than a photo of the two from the day they'd gotten married, her looks was all Jennifer had to remember her parents by.

Things weren't so bad though, she did have a few friends. Anne Wooten and Laura Harrington were nice girls, they always kept her company on nights when she could be heard crying in her room when her parents crossed her mind. They helped her cope. Telling her that everything would be okay, Jennifer knew they were just trying to cheer her up, but, it had helped her get by when ever she was feeling down.

Wrapping her arms around herself, Jennifer glanced up the stairs as Anne Wooten came jogging down the set of stairs from the orphanage and down to where she was sitting at. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, bangs plastered to her face with sweat from the apparent running she'd been doing and her green windbreaker was zipped up to her chin.

"J-Jennifer," She was saying while trying to get her breath back. Anne had her hands on her jeans, bent over and letting out huffs of air. "Thank god, I was hoping that I'd find you out here."

"What is it?" Jennifer asked. She was curious as to why her friend would be looking for her so frantically and be out of breath.

"I have wonderful news!"

"Tell me!" She said, the suspense of it was killing her.

"We're going to be sisters!"

"Really!?" Jennifer was shocked.

Anne nodded.

"Yep. You and I are being adopted by some rich senator, I'm not sure about what his name was. Simon Barlow or something like that, I think."

"You mean Simon Barrows." Laura Harrington said from behind them as she joined where the two girls were sitting at on the stairs. Her blue long-sleeved jacket was covered in fallen leaves."And you're not the only ones, I'm being adopted as well. So is Lotte from what I've heard."

"So, we're all going to be sisters?"

"It seems that way, I think its pretty cool that the four of us are all being adopted by the same family." Laura told the two of them, brushing a strand of golden blonde hair out of her face and tucking it gently behind one ear.

Jennifer couldn't believe it. They were all being adopted by the same family, that meant that for the next five years of their lives before they set out on their own as grown women, they would be living in the same house. It excited her to know that she was finally going to be part of a family. She'd always dreamed of living in a big house up on the hill in the countryside, just knowing that she was going to be getting this and also have siblings that she'd practically grown up with, it made her feel elated.

All of a sudden, she felt a bit self conscious about herself as she thought of who her new parents were going to be. What were they like? Would they like her? It was a stupid thing to think about considering she hadn't even met them yet. However, Jennifer found herself wondering this and many other things as she sat here with Anne and Laura.

"What do you think, Jennifer?" Laura asked.

"Hmm?" She hadn't really been paying attention to their conversation, she had no idea what they had been talking about. It made her red with embarrassment because of not paying attention, knowing that it was going to be another opportunity for someone to laugh at her.

Thankfully Anne and Laura weren't like that.

"What do you think of Mr. Barrows?" Anne asked. They were both putting her on the spot, which made Jennifer feel uneasy.

"I think he sounds like a nice man," She told her two friends. Truthfully, Jennifer didn't know that much about Mr. Barrows to make a decision, but, she felt that she should answer her friends question anyways. "Hopefully we won't have to come back to the orphanage like Marianne did last month."

Getting to her feet, Jennifer brushed the dirt from her pants and her purple sweater, then began to ascend the stairs to go back inside. It was getting to cold outside for her, she didn't want to catch a cold and it gave her an excuse to spend some time by herself in her room. All of this talking about them being sisters was making Jennifer think about her parents and she didn't want to start crying in front of her friends.

_I'm sure they get tired of my crying, they're just being nice to me by not saying anything._

It made her feel like a burden to her friends and that was the last thing she wanted.

When she entered the orphanage, Jennifer traveled through the winding halls and up the flight of stairs to where her room was at on the second floor. She passed by several kids who had been stuck with chores because of misbehaving, but they didn't say anything to her as she tip-toed around them to avoid causing any trouble for them. It was quiet out in the hall, Jennifer supposed it came from usually seeing the halls so lit up with life. When she came to her room, she opened the door and walked inside, closing the door behind her.

Sitting on the edge of her bed, she sat there as tears began to spill down her cheeks. A photo of her parents was all she had left of to remember them by, it sat on the nightstand next to her bed and every night Jennifer stared at it as she tried to sleep. Mostly, she was kept up all night staring at the picture. Lately however, things had changed and now she was slowly beginning to get past the tragedies of her past.

Suddenly, there was a soft knock at the door, followed by a head poking in through the open door.

"Jennifer, are you in here?" It was Ms. Taylor, she must have been looking for her outside for something or else she wouldn't have come to her room. "I thought I might find you here, I was just talking to Laura and Anne. They told me you'd excused yourself from their conversation before I talked with them."

"Oh, well, I just needed some time to myself." She wiped the tears away from her cheeks with her sweater sleeve, sitting the picture of her parents down on the nightstand.

"Are you sure?" She asked. Jennifer gave a nod, but Ms. Taylor felt that she was lying. "You know, I actually was friends with a man who went to the same college as your parents. He said they were a very happy couple, I'm sorry that you didn't get to spend much time with them before they were taken from you."

Walking over to where she was sitting at, Ms. Taylor sat down on the bed beside her and placed a consoling arm around her shoulder. It felt nice to actually have someone care about her. Jennifer spent most of her time thinking that everyone resented her because of the large sum of money that had been left to her by her parents, that she never really thought anyone gave a damn about her. She felt wanted. Ms. Taylor wasn't just someone feeling obligated to console her, but someone actually having a strong connection with her.

"You wanna' talk about it?" She asked.

"N-No, I'd rather just have some time alone." Jennifer didn't like talking about her parents, it just brought up conflicting feelings that usually left her crying.

"Well, I came to talk to you about something anyways." Ms. Taylor ran her hand up and down Jennifer's arm to console her before continuing. "As I'm sure Anne told you. You, along with her, Laura and Lotte have all been adopted by a man named Simon Barrows and his wife, Mary. I know this is a lot to take in at the moment, with how you're feeling and all, but, just think of how happy you'll be this time tomorrow."

Looking up at her, Jennifer smiled as best she could and nodded.

"Yes, I'm being adopted. I am excited, its just, you know, hard for me to move on."

"I understand that, Jennifer." Ms. Taylor sighed, turning to look out the window to the small lake that they went to during the summer. "You should give this a try though, I'm sure you'll find that you actually like living with the Barrows'."

"I suppose I can." Jennifer told her as she swung her legs back and forth.

"Good. Now, get packing." Ms. Taylor told her. "The Barrows sent someone to pick you four girls up and they should be here shortly."

With a smile, Ms. Taylor kissed her on the forehead and stood up then left Jennifer alone.

After she was left alone, Jennifer pulled out her suitcase from beneath her bed and began to pack her belongings into it. There wasn't much that she had to call her own. Aside from her clothing, a few educational books and other items which she'd acquired over the years, there wasn't much that Jennifer would be bringing with her. It wasn't anything to be proud of, but, she was glad that she at least had something to call her own with being at the orphanage most of her life.

It only took her twenty minutes, but when she was packed and ready to go she made her way downstairs to where the entrance of the house was at. Standing at the foot of the stairs were the other three girls, all carrying with them their belongings and waiting to be picked up by the person who was coming to get them.

They were all dressed nicely, even Lotte, who looked annoyed that she'd be living with them until she was of age to move out on her own. She kept to herself a lot unless she was being forced to interact with the other girls, so it was rare that she was around any of them. Despite this, Jennifer was glad that she would be living with them. Maybe she could take away something from living with Lotte. If not, then there was no big loss.

"God, I can't wait to see our rooms!" Anne said enthusiastically from where she sat at. From what she could tell, Anne had been waiting for this moment for quite some time. No one had ever adopted Anne before, so, she was eager to have people to call her family.

"Don't get your hopes up," Lotte told her. "Odds are we'll be brought back within the week because the old coot is consumed with his political crap."

"Don't say that!" She whined. A look of shock was plastered to her young face.

Lotte cut her eyes, a wicked smile perking at the corner of her mouth as she decided to toy with the naive girl. "What? Ain't like what I'm saying is a lie, we're probably just going to end up being molested by him anyways. I bet he just loves brunette white girls, eh?"

Laura started laughing, catching on to the joke that Lotte said just as Ms. Taylor told them to be quiet. There was a soft knock on the door, followed by an older woman stepping through the door. She was wearing her blonde hair tied up in a bun at the back of her head, wore a fashionable blue suit and smiled brightly as she glanced from girl to girl.

"Hi, my name is Mary Barrows. I'm here to pick up four of the girls and take them home with me."


	2. Chp 2: Rules of the Tower

**Chapter Two**  
**Rules of the Tower**

**Many thanks goes out to those who have taken the time to look at my novelization of Clock Tower. Its great to know that there are still a few people out there that actually care about the series and what I'm trying to do here is show my love for the series.**

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The vehicle rolled along the dirt path, stretching on for what felt like miles on end. An occasional bump in the path jolted the five passengers inside the beat up old station wagon, making it impossible for them to get comfortable. Jennifer stared lazily out of one of the windows in the back, watching the surrounding wooded area as they passed through. Above, the sky had turned gray, giving the atmosphere an even more foreboding tone than what the environment alone ever could.

It was typical weather that you would see in the fall. Spring and summer had come and gone, making way for a cold winter that was slowly beginning to arrive. The leaves had already begun to change color, flaking from the limbs of the tall trees to the ground below. With the recent cold weather they'd been having for a week now, she wouldn't be surprised if they would be getting snow soon.

Much like the weather, Jennifer felt that her life was currently undergoing a change. She felt as if she was being thrown head-on into a fluctuation, with no idea of where that change might be leading her. On top of that, there was no confirmation of whether or not this was good or bad. All Jennifer could hope for was that where ever this fluctuation took her, things would not be as bleak as the weather currently was.

After they'd met Mrs. Barrows when she had come to pick them up at the orphanage, Jennifer had felt a bit awkward being around the woman. She had no idea _why_ of course, there was just something about the woman that made her tense up whenever she would spare a glance at her from where she sat at in the back. When everything was in order, they said goodbye to all of their friends after the paperwork was complete and then left with Mrs. Barrows in her station wagon.

Now here they were, three hours later driving down a dirt path and the daylight that remained was slowly starting to die around them and making way for the omnipresent darkness of the night. Over the time they'd been driving the girls had become more acquainted with their new mother—she preferred that they call her Ms. Mary—and found that she was a kind and caring person who was going to love them as if they were her own children.

Reaching into her pocket, Jennifer pulled out the small pendant necklace that she'd been given by her father the week before his disappearance. She ran a finger over the smooth metallic surface, it was cool to the touch beneath her finger. She opened the lid of her treasured possession to look at the picture inside. It was a picture of her parents before they had conceived her. It was a picture of the two enjoying a summer afternoon together, having fun and not knowing of what the future might hold for them.

"So," Laura said as she garnered Jennifer's attention. "What do you think this place is going to look like? Any good?"

Jennifer shrugged.

"I suppose, we'll just have to wait and see once we get there." To be honest, she was just glad that she was finally going to have a family and that her friends would now be her sisters. It was something that only happened in fairy tales. "You, Anne and Lotte being adopted as well makes it even better."

Laura cracked a grin, glanced to the front of the station wagon and then back to her.

"What about Ms. Mary?"

"She's nice, I'm sure we'll get to know her a lot better as we grow up."

Up front, Ms. Mary was looking in the mirror at the two girls and noticed that they were talking to each other. They'd been so quiet during the ride, that she was beginning to wonder if maybe something was wrong.

"How are you two back there? Jennifer? Laura? You've been awfully quiet since we left the orphanage."

"We're fine, Ms. Mary." Laura said with a bright smile.

For the next thirty minutes the station wagon wound down a heavily wooded path, right into the heart of the forest. It was eerily quiet. A foreboding aura encompassed the surrounding darkness and returned a nightmarish veil that was all but impregnable. One would expect the sounds of the wildlife present or even just the wind itself, but there was nothing, nothing but complete silence. Although there was soft wind that was blowing in from the open window, a gentle, pleasant breeze washing over her.

As they drove on, she couldn't help but notice that the further they drove towards the mansion, what little of the wildlife there _was_ seemed to die out. What had once been the typical forest during fall was now giving way to a solemn silence. Not a cricket or cicada could be heard, nor a single bird chirping. It made her feel uneasy.

"Ms. Mary?"

"Yes, Anne?" She didn't turn to face the young girl, focusing on driving through down the dense path.

The young brunette was sitting in the passenger seat, smiling brightly. "What's Mr. Barrow's like? Is he a nice person? Why did he adopt all four of us?"

"Yes, he's a very kind and generous man. He came from a long line of wealthy men. Believe it or not, Mr. Barrow's ancestor is the one and only Abraham Lincoln, a president of the United States of America."

"Wonderful, just what we need." Lotte muttered next to Laura, giving Jennifer the impression that she was in a pissy mood.

"Look! There it is!" Anne alerted the others. She was pointing to a structure that was set in the distance.

Looking back out the window, Jennifer noticed that in the distance she could see a huge mansion that encompassed a large portion of the open field. It was surrounded by a high wall of trees, making it difficult for her to distinguish any remarkable traits. There was however, a large clock tower that dominated most of the front of the Barrows' Mansion. It reminded her a lot of Big Ben in England, a shining beacon for the queens people. Strangely, Jennifer found that it frightened her for some odd reason. Why? She had no clue.

The rest of the drive through the forest had been relatively quiet, Jennifer was more intrigued by the dense forest that surrounded them than anything else. It wasn't much longer 'til they arrived outside of an antique gate that separated the forest from the grounds of the Barrows' mansion.

Stopping the car, Ms. Mary got out and walked up to the gate as she pulled out a ring that held a thick row of keys. She watched as she filed through the collection until Ms. Mary came across the correct key, opened the gate and returned to the car. With a groan from years of rust that had accumulated on the hinges, the gate opened up and allowed them passage into the yard.

Getting back in the car, they drove down the short path of the front courtyard and towards a garage situated on the left side of the house. Pulling into the garage, the vehicle came to a slow stop, parking next to an old Bentley that looked well past its expiration date. There was a rather large tarp situated on the other side of the garage, it puzzled her what could be on the other side, but there was no way of knowing and she didn't want to pry into their business.

"Well, girls, we're here." Ms. Mary turned to the girls and smiled. "Lets go inside so that you can get settled into your rooms."

They all got out of the car, their luggage in their hands as they left the garage and followed the cobblestone path that led them around the side of the large structure and to the front porch of the elegant mansion. Several pillars surrounded either side of the door, supporting the balcony that overlooked the front courtyard.

On either side of the house, it was dominated by a thick forested environment. A hedge maze could be made out in the distance, spreading out from the right side of the house and branching off towards the back. Any child lucky to see a place such as beautiful as this would think it only possible from a fairy tale story book. Gargoyle statues stood on either side of the front porch, spears held proudly in their arms and ready for combat.

"This place looks magnificent!" Laura said happily as she carried her suitcase up the steps with ease that the other three girls didn't posses.

Ms. Mary glanced back at the four girls as she reached the large oak front door.

"It's been in Mr. Barrows' family for nine generations, some day it might even be passed down to one of you."

Holding her luggage with both hands, Jennifer remained at the back of the group as Ms. Mary continued to talk to them about the history of the mansion. From what she was telling them, the Barrows' were a well known family in this region of Maine. Their family had been an integral part of development in the northern part of the United States all the way back to the civil war. Most of the rest was lost to her as she took in the magnificence of the mansion. It truly was a masterpiece itself.

"Wow, that sounds very interesting." Lotte said with a tang of sarcasm that Ms. Mary failed to notice.

Walking up to the large oak door, Ms. Mary began to look through her ring of keys again until she found the correct one and unlocked the door. The door opened with a creak, years of aged wood shifting as it swung inward to allow the five of them to enter.

"What do you girls think?" Ms. Mary asked with a bright smile.

"It looks amazing, I can't believe we're going to be living here!" Anne said as she followed Ms. Mary through the door.

As the girls followed Ms. Mary into the house, Jennifer hung back and was looking up towards the many windows that ran the length of the upper floors of the mansion. They all had curtains hanging low, obscuring her from seeing anything except for one of them. Squinting her eyes to see, Jennifer thought she could make out the form of a face, a boy to be exact, with shaggy brown hair and he was wearing a white mask. Strange, considering the Barrows had no children, at least that's what Ms. Mary had told them.

Noticing that she wasn't with them, Laura turned back to her. "Jennifer, is something wrong?"

"What?" She asked, turned to glance at Laura. "Oh. Yeah, I'm fine. It's nothing."

"You sure?"

Looking back up at the window, she saw that the boy was no longer there.

Maybe her imagination was starting to getting the best of her. It wouldn't have been the first time Jennifer thought she'd seen something that wasn't there and it turned out to be nothing at all. Strange things had been happening to her all her life and there was no explanation for it, another experience that had many of the other girls at the orphanage labeling her as a freak.

"Yeah, lets catch up to the others." She told Laura and they joined the others inside the mansion.

When they entered the grand foyer of the mansion, Jennifer looked around with breathtaking awe. It was, put simply, huge. Easily twice the size of what the orphanage had been. The room was well lit, not to overly decorated but just enough to give the room a glamorous appearance. A pale shade of white adorned the walls, setting the tone. The floor was tiled in black and white marble and dominated by a decorative red oriental carpet that led up the massive staircase to the second floor. Either side of the hall in front of them was lined with marble pillars that supported the balustrade of the second floor. Along the walls of the room, beautiful portraits of the former owners hung on the walls. To the left and right of them, halls stood on either side of the room, leading further into the mansion. Above them at the top of the ceiling, there was a large stain glass window that depicted the birth of Jesus Christ. In short, it was magnificent.

"Wow, it really is nice." She whispered in awe at how elegant it looked on the inside.

"Ms. Mary?"

Ms. Mary turned to look at the four of them.

"Yes, Anne?"

"Where will we be attending school at?"

They followed Ms. Mary down the hallway, passing by several doors that were shut. Curiosity got the best of Jennifer, wondering exactly what was behind the doors and more importantly, where their own rooms were going to be at and what they looked like. Not that she wasn't enjoying the tour of her new home, she was just very tired from the long drive through the countryside and wanted to get some rest.

"I think now would be a good time to tell you the rules of the mansion," Ms. Mary told them as they came to a point in their journey where the hallway branched off three different ways and a staircase to their left. "You will be in bed by nine o'clock. School will begin in a week once you've settled into your rooms. The clock tower which dominates the northern front of the mansion is off limits due to danger hazards, until its renovations have been taken care of in spring, anyone caught up there will be subjected to strict punishments from Mr. Barrows and I."

It didn't seem like there was much that they would have to worry about. Jennifer was use to living by strict rules, the orphanage hadn't exactly been a favorite place of hers when it came to its rules. She was actually glad to be out of the place that had been her home for so long and didn't think that she would be missing its unwelcoming atmosphere any time soon. Although, she did have to admit that she was going to miss Ms. Taylor's kind words when she was feeling down.

"Upstairs is where you will find your bedrooms on the second floor. I expect you to be ready for dinner in ten minutes, I will send Sullivan to summon you to the dining hall once its prepared."

When she was done instructing them on where they would find their rooms at, Ms. Mary dismissed herself to go look for Mr. Barrows and the girls made their way upstairs to get settled in before dinner. The girls' rooms were divided up with two of them living in the same room, Jennifer unfortunately would be bunking with Lotte. She didn't exactly hate Lotte so to speak, it was just that Jennifer didn't know the girl all that well and quite frankly, she was scared of her.

Opening the door to the room, Jennifer walked in and looked around the room. It was set up to accommodate two people. Beds sat opposite each other on both sides of the room, a single armoire dresser stood in between the two beds where they were to share storage of their clothes at. Oil paintings hung from the cream colored walls, giving the room a nice decor.

"You won't have to worry dear," Ms. Mary told her as they traveled through the grand foyer and down a hall to their right. "I, along with Mr. Barrows, will be homeschooling the four of you."

Walking over to the bed, she sat her suitcase next to her on the bed and tried to relax for a moment before she began unpacking. However, Lotte wasted no time in making sure that she was comfortable in the room as she walked over to the one window in the room, threw it open and lit a cigarette.

"What are you doing!?" Jennifer asked. Ms. Mary hadn't said anything about smoking, but Jennifer was sure that it wasn't allowed. "You could get into trouble for that!"

Lotte scoffed, taking a drag from the cigarette and blowing the puff of smoke in her direction.

"You gonna' tell on me?" She teased, flashing her a smile. Jennifer gave her a hard stare and Lotte just laughed. "Relax, Jennifer. Ms. Mary won't know as long as the window pulls out the smoke, I'll be fine and you won't get in trouble either."

Jennifer sighed, looking down at her hands.

"I just don't want to make a bad impression on Ms. Mary right from the get go, that's all."

Lotte rolled her eyes and sighed, putting out the cigarette before sitting down on her own bed.

She was staring at Jennifer, who was looking out the window at the setting sun in the distance. It made her feel uncomfortable sharing a room with Lotte, she was very different from Laura and Anne, so she was hesitant of what to do around her. She wasn't exactly the best when it came to talking to someone that she didn't know, her shyness always got the best of her. Turning to look at her, she gave her a forced smile before turning back to the window.

"Lighten up, Jen." Lotte told her as she propped her legs up on the bed. "They are going to love you, probably not me so much. But you? Definitely."

She smiled.

"Thanks."

Opening up her suitcase, Jennifer began to unpack her clothing into the armoire dresser and placing her belongings as part of the decor in the room. She remained quiet the entire time, her mind wandering back to earlier when they'd first arrived at the mansion. That boy she'd seen in the window on the second floor, Jennifer was wondering if maybe the Barrows had adopted kids other than just the four of them. If that was the case, why hadn't they seen them yet? And where were they?

"Did you see that boy in the window when we came inside the house?"

"What?" Lotte asked. She had been putting her own belongings up and had been momentarily distracted. "No, I didn't. I guess they must have a kid of their own or adopted another."

"Right." She mumbled.

"I'm not saying you're lying," Lotte said defensively. "I just find it weird that they would have a kid of their own and then adopt four teenage girls."

"I guess you're right," She said softly. Now that she thought about it, it did seem childish of her to assume that they would be the only children at the house.

It was stupid of her to even think that something might be out of the ordinary. She had been adopted, that should have made her happy but for some reason Jennifer couldn't shake this feeling that something was wrong. It was this nagging feeling at the back of her mind that was telling her they shouldn't be here, but she didn't say anything to Lotte about it.

"Besides," Lotte playfully punched her in the arm. "I doubt they'd of let go of a girl like you anyways."

Jennifer smiled.

"Maybe."

After a moment, Jennifer left the bedroom and wandered down the hall until she came across a bathroom. It was a stroke of luck, she was in dire need of using the facilities and didn't like the idea of sitting through dinner with the need to relief her bladder.

Stepping into the bathroom, she saw that it was pretty nice. A marble counter and ceramic tile, there was also an old-fashioned tub against the wall with a well-kept toilet set beside it. A single window stood open across from the sink next to the tub. Above her, a small lighting fixture gave the room an almost brilliant illuminance. It was almost as if she'd stepped into a hospital room.

Once she was done, Jennifer walked up to the sink and stared at her reflection in the mirror. There were lines under her eyes from how tired she was, but her growling stomach was prompting her not to miss dinner. Placing a hand on her stomach, she silently willed it to cease its bellyaching and then ran some water so that she could wash her face off. She was still somewhat dirty from playing with Ann, so Jennifer felt the need to clean up some before dinner.

Picking up the bar of soap from the dish next to the sink, she thoroughly lathered her hands up before running them back under the warm water. Drying her hands off with a towel, she placed everything back exactly as it was and turned around to leave the room when out of the corner of her eye she saw something outside of the window.

Curious as to what it could be, Jennifer strode up to the window and stared out to the ground below. The wind was blowing heavy, the trees which lined the side of the house obscured her view, say for a gap that was situated between where the cobblestone path was at. Standing down in-between the trees was the young boy from earlier. He was just standing there, staring up at her. It gave Jennifer the creeps, why on earth was he just standing there, staring at her!

"Jennifer," Lotte's voice carried down the hallway to where she was at before she appeared at the door. "It's time for dinner."

Momentarily turning to the girl standing at the door, Jennifer turned to look back down in the courtyard... only to find that the boy was no longer there.

Where did he go?

Had he even been there at all? Was she starting to see things again like before?

Not sure what to make of any of this, she decided not to say anything to any of the others about seeing the boy again and left the bathroom. Following Lotte down the hallway, the four girls met up at the stairs just as an elderly man who introduced himself as the Butler, Sullivan, came walking towards them.

"Good evening, ladies. Right this way, dinner is served."


	3. Chp 3: Dinner with the Barrows

**Chapter Three**  
**Dinner with the Barrows**

* * *

They followed Sullivan down the dimly lit halls of the mansion, Jennifer wasn't sure of where they were going and on occasion they would have to call out for Sullivan to stop or else they would lose him. Not knowing the layout of the mansion made it near impossible for them to find their way, which obviously wasn't much trouble for the Butler. Not so much for them however. It was almost as if the man was _trying_ to lose them in the winding halls, at least, that's how Jennifer felt but she decided to keep it to herself.

Sitting at the dining table, Jennifer felt quite out of place. Two girls sat on either side of Ms. Mary at one end of the long table, which was odd considering they were the only people aside from Mr. Barrows and Sullivan who even were present at the mansion. It was almost as if someone had set the table for an entire party, rather than just a woman and four teenagers.

The dining hall they were in was easily twice as large at the one at the orphanage. Of course, Jennifer figured it would have to be with the rather lengthy dining table that dominated much of the room. A large grandfather clock was ticking away in the center of the room along the right wall, the rhythmatical tick-tocking of the pendulum almost hypnotic if you paid close enough attention to it. Above them was a balcony that connected to the main hall, at least that's what she surmised based on the look of the two rooms. A fireplace was burning at the far edge of the room, and there was another door set just behind Ms. Mary.

Their food had already been waiting for them when they had arrived moments ago, the four girls sitting down in their seats and looking at what was set before them. She stared at the decorative pork chops, the gravy smothered mashed potatoes and the green beans with a wary smile. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy the sight of the food in front of her, quite the contrary she was starving. There was just to much on her mind right now to want to eat. Instead, she began to poke at the food with her fork.

All of this was a lot to take in and things were moving way to fast for Jennifer's liking, she just needed some time to be able to settle into her new surroundings. Having never been adopted before, Jennifer could only assume that this was a commonplace emotion felt by anyone when in an unfamiliar environment.

While she was busy with prodding her fork through the food, Ms. Mary took notice of Jennifer's actions and decided to see what was wrong with her.

"Is something wrong, Jennifer?"

Looking up from her plate, she turned her gaze in Ms. Mary's direction.

"Oh, I'm fine." She told her in a quiet voice. Although it wasn't necessarily the truth. "I guess I'm just more tired than what I am hungry is all."

It made her feel guilty, knowing the effort and time that had been put into preparing dinner for the five of them and she didn't even have the stomach to eat. Not that Jennifer was trying to be disrespectful, the transition was still to much for her to handle. None of the other girls had taken notice of this, which she was thankful for. Being put on the spot wasn't something she was comfortable with and the last thing that she wanted to do was ruin the evening for the rest of the girls.

At the moment all that was on her mind was her parents and what life would have been like for her if they hadn't of left her alone in this world. It was nothing more than a mere fantasy world that only existed in her imagination, but, Jennifer was sure that things would have been different for her than what they were now. She imagined that she would have never meet Anne or Laura, but maybe, just maybe, that wouldn't have been such a bad thing.

_No, don't think like that. Remember what your therapist told you about that?_

Two years ago, Jennifer had been seeing a therapist and had talked with him about this particular subject. She would often talk with her therapist about the events that would trigger a reaction in her that would make her think about losing her parents and how her life would have been better for her if they were still alive. Her doctor had told her that this was a form of pessimism, that she was outweighing what she wanted with what she had; that she should be happy with what she already has.

"Are you sure everything is okay?" Ms. Mary was still looking at her. "You seem...distant."

"I—" She suddenly stopped, not sure what to say. She didn't want to talk about her parents with her right now, so she resolved to talk about something else. "—saw something in one of the windows when we were coming inside the house earlier."

"What?!" Laura said in shock.

"What did you see, Jennifer?" Ms. Mary asked with concern.

"It was a boy, he was wearing a white mask. He couldn't be no older than the four of us, I figured he probably was your son or another kid that you and Mr. Barrows had adopted."

"Not this again." Lotte muttered in annoyance.

"Surely, you must be mistaken." Ms. Mary said confused. "I hate to inform you of this, Jennifer. We have no children, we adopted you four girls after I miscarried a year ago because I thought that having children would be a great release from my husbands duty as the senator of Maine."

"I guess so..."

This was exactly the reason why Jennifer never liked talking to others, she always made herself look so stupid with her choice of words. Staring down at her plate, she tried to ignore her burning cheeks that were bright red with embarrassment. She should have never said anything about seeing that boy to either Lotte or Ms. Mary, now she would have to live with the constant worry of whether or not there might be something wrong with her again.

For now, she decided that it was best if she remain quiet for the rest of the night. The last thing she wanted right now was to bring attention to herself.

Meanwhile, the other girls began to talk among themselves about how they were glad to finally be out of the orphanage and what they were hoping life with the Barrows would be like. Jennifer watched as the three girls conversed with each other and laughed, enjoying their first meal together as a family. Well, almost a family. She noticed that Mr. Barrows had yet to make his appearance at the dinner table and it was starting to make her wonder what was keeping him so long.

Jennifer also couldn't help but notice that Ms. Mary seemed quite distant, as if something were bothering her. She had no idea what could possibly be going through her mind. Although she figured it was because there were now going to be four young teenage girls living with her and her husband, that was a lot of responsibility for just two people to be taking on. She was confident that Ms. Mary and Mr. Barrows would do just fine, things would work out for them eventually.

"Well, I must go find Mr. Barrows," Ms. Mary said as she clasped her hands together with a smile and stood up from the dinner table. "Something must be wrong since he hasn't arrived yet. He's probably just lost track of time because of his work."

Without another word, Ms. Mary departed from the dining room, leaving them alone.

As soon as Ms. Mary left the room, the four girls continued talking.

"What do you think is taking Mr. Barrows so long?" Anne asked as she pushed her plate away from her.

Glancing at each other with a mischievous grin, both Laura and Lotte decided that they were going to warrant themselves a good laugh by trying to scare the hell out of her.

"Oh? You didn't notice it when we first got here?" Laura asked, a mischievous grin perking at the corner of her mouth. "The sound of the body being dragged down the hall? The trail of blood being left behind and festering into the carpeted halls?"

"Maybe he likes young girls?" Lotte said, adding on to what Laura was saying.

A look of discomfort wound its way onto Anne's face as the two girls continued to spin their tale of darkness. It was anything but enjoyable, even Jennifer didn't like what they were saying and she wasn't even the one who they were talking to. She didn't want them to turn their unnerving story on her and try to scare her. For now she would just sit there and bear the diabolical dirge, hoping that it would end soon.

So, for the next twenty minutes Jennifer sat in silence as Laura and Lotte continued to pester Anne with their ridiculous ghost story. All the while wondering what was taking Ms. Mary so long, she had been gone for quite some time. It was going on thirty minutes since she'd excused herself from the dining room to go look for Mr. Barrows, who she said was probably caught up with his work. It made her feel uneasy, something was wrong and she didn't like it.

"I wonder whats taking them so long?" Jennifer spoke up, the other girls stopping their childish game and looking over at her.

"Probably decided to have some 'alone time'." Lotte joked, hinting to the others of what she was saying. The other girls all started laughing. It was one of the rare moments where there wasn't any childish antics going on between the four of them.

"Really, though," Jennifer was able to say after her giggling passed. "You think every things okay?"

"Who cares?" Lotte said sarcastically. "I'm going back to my room. I'm tired as hell, annoyed and just want the warmth that only a bed and my vibrator can give."

After Lotte left to go back upstairs, Jennifer and the others decided that maybe they would go look for Ms. Mary after all. Something just didn't seem right with how long it was taking her to come back, so, they figured that maybe something had happened. Besides, it was getting late. Lotte wasn't the only one who wanted to get some sleep, she was tired as well and wanted to get a good nights rest.

Stepping out into the hallway, she began to make her way down the corridor that stretched down several yards in front of her and abruptly turned to the left. The hallway was dark, illuminated only by the dimly lit lighting fixtures that hung from the walls. It gave Jennifer the creeps, the hair on the back of her neck standing on edge as she noticed just how foreboding the mansion was. A cold draft filtered into the hallway from the open window to her right, sending a chill throughout her body that made her wrap her arms around herself tightly. Multiple doors stood on either side of them as they pressed onward. Each yielding the same result as the three girls tried to open them: locked. Not that Jennifer didn't expect this, the Barrows seemed to like their privacy.

In the next hall there stood a row of suits of armor, their metal frames gleaming from the flashes of lightning outside. Flashes of lightning danced across the black sky, the storm clouds from earlier outside were starting to finally gather around the Barrows' mansion. She hated thunderstorms. Had ever since she was young, they always frightened her with the loud booming sounds they made and the abstract images it produced.

Stopping for a moment, Jennifer looked out the window and across to where the opposite side of the mansion was. Through the gloomy darkness, she thought that she could see someone standing at the window watching her. Eyes widening in surprise, she snapped them shut and then began to do an exercise that her therapist had taught her. Several moments passed before she braved the thought of opening them and when she did, she could no longer see the figure at the window.

_Was that all in my imagination?..._ She thought about this for several moments, scrambling to recall the last time she had taken her medicine.

After first seeing the doctor when she was ten, she'd had to take the prescribed medicine three times every day so she took them with easy meal. Whenever she would ask one of the social workers at the orphanage what her medication was really suppose to do, Jennifer was often met with ridicule and was told to do as she was told. The only thing she knew was its name and that was only because she'd overheard Ms. Taylor reading it off the label one day.

_Risperidone, that's what she had said it was called..._

In all the excitement and mixed emotions over coming to the Barrows' mansion, Jennifer had completely forgotten to take it before dinner.

"Hey, there's a door open at the end of the hall." Laura pointed down to where the hall ended at. The door was standing slightly open, a bright flickering light coming from inside.

"Do you think they're inside?" Anne asked, walking beside Jennifer so that she wouldn't get left behind in the dark.

"Hell if I know, but god I hope so." Laura whispered as they approached the door.

"Wait, I-I'll check it out."

"Are you sure?" Laura asked.

"Yes." Jennifer's voice was barely audible over the clashing of thunder outside, but her words had been loud enough for Laura to hear and she continued forward alone.

She reached the end of the hall and gave the door a light push, stepping into what she found to be an elegant lounge. Warmth washed over Jennifer, the sound of a crackling fire that danced inside the open mouth of the fireplace to her left as she located the source of warmth and light. The room she'd just entered was in fact a lounge. The furniture which was centered in the middle of the room was made from polished oak, an ashtray sat on the coffee table with a still burning cigarette. Ordinate paintings hung from the walls, depicting scenes from ancient battles. Stepping further into the room, Jennifer picked up a book and looked at it. _The Divine Comedy_ by Dante Alighieri was the title of the book. Flipping through the pages, she ran a finger over it before placing it back on the table.

Neither Ms. Mary or Mr. Barrows were in the room, which made her wonder exactly who had been in this room in the first place. Picking up the cigarette, she examined it for a minute to try to determine how long it had been since it was lit. She wasn't a smoker like Lotte was, if she were here, Lotte would have been able to tell them. For a brief moment, Jennifer felt an impulse to place the cigarette between her lips and take a drag from it. Instead, she put it out in the ashtray and decided to inspect the desk on the other side of the room. Opening the drawers, she found nothing but random papers about politics that she didn't understand. There was an old-fashioned radio sitting next to the lamp and when she turned it on, the soft instrumental sound of classical music filled the room.

Sighing, Jennifer turned off the radio and shook her head as she suddenly began to feel disoriented. The room was spinning slowly, her balance becoming an issue as she flailed her arms and grabbed the edge of the desk to stop herself from falling to the floor. A whole minute went by before the spell of disorientation passed, leaving Jennifer wrought with worry over what could have caused it as she tried to compose herself.

_What the hell was that all about?..._

Never before had Jennifer experienced something such as that, it had been so sudden and yet, so brief, that she didn't know what to think of it.

_I'd better just keep it to myself for now_, Jennifer thought as she stepped back out into the hallway where Laura and Anne were waiting at.

"Did you find them?" Anne asked.

Jennifer shook her head.

"No," She told the two girls, hoping that neither one of them would note the slightest hint of hesitation in her voice. "Strange though, there was a cigarette in the ashtray in the room. It was still fresh, almost like someone had been in the room just minutes before we came down this way."

"Yeah, it sure is." Laura said as she tried to keep herself warm. The wind coming in from the window in the hallway had begun to pick up, walking up to it, she decided that she would shut and lock it.

"We should probably get back to the dining hall," Anne told the two of them as she began walking back the way they'd come.

As they made their way back to the dining hall, Jennifer couldn't help but feel as if they were being watched. She had no clue why she spontaneously felt this way, maybe it was because of the timorous atmosphere and that she was suddenly reminded of the boy in the window, but there was this feeling that she couldn't shake it. Looking around, she watched as the shadows danced across the walls from the lightning that was flickering across the night sky outside.

When they reentered the dining hall, they were greeted by Lotte who was sitting at the other end of the table. She had her legs propped up on the table and a bored look plastered onto her face.

"Thought you were going to bed?" Jennifer asked as the three of them walked over to where she was sitting at.

"Couldn't find the god damn stairs," She said with malice as she waved a hand in the air. "This place is like a fucking maze, might have to get a map from Ms. Mary if I don't learn the layout of this place very soon."

"Yeah, we couldn't find her or Mr. Barrows either." Jennifer told her as she leaned against the table.

"Figures." Lotte muttered.

It left her feeling puzzled at why they had yet to return, making Jennifer believe that something might have happened to them. They wouldn't just adopt four girls out of the blue to play games like this with, not the Barrows. Their lives were to public for them to become involved in a scandal over mistreatment of four young adolescents. Just thinking about this left her feeling stupefied. It was so silly of Jennifer to be thinking of something like this, there had to be a reasonable explanation of why they were taking so long. Her imagination was a wondrous tool for breathing life to the paranoia that she could conjure up.

"Well," Anne said as she began to walk towards the door that Sullivan had led them through earlier. "I'm gonna' try and find the stairs to go to bed, I'm tired. Will you guys let Ms. Mary and Mr. Barrows know?"

"Sure thing," Laura reassured her.

After Anne left the dining room, the other girls decided that they would wait a few more minutes before heading back to their rooms as well.

It was eerily quiet, all three of them remaining silent as they listened out for the familiar sound of heels on the hardwood floor. Minutes stretched on, patience between the three teens becoming thin as they grew tired of waiting for someone who obviously was not coming.

A sudden strong feeling of concern washed over Jennifer as the minutes stretched on. Maybe they had decided to retire for the night and the four girls had just slipped their mind? It wouldn't have surprised her one bit. Maybe it was best for them to go back to their rooms...

Suddenly, from somewhere down the hallway a piercing scream broke the silence.

* * *

After departing from the dining hall, Anne slowly made her way back towards where they had come from earlier in the hope of finding the stairs. With each step, she looked around the dimly lit corridor as her eyes adjusted to the darkness and searched for anything that was familiar with the path Sullivan had led them down to get to the dining hall. Everything was starting to look the same to her, making Anne feel as if she were walking circles around the entire mansion.

The dimly lit lighting fixtures that hung from the walls gave off brief illumination of her surroundings, but other than that, she was having to walk with her hands out in front of her or risk the chance of running into the furniture. It gave Anne the creeps, the hair on the back of her neck standing on edge as she noticed just how foreboding the mansion was after nightfall. It sort of reminded her of the mansion from a game she had played once a few years ago, something about a police organization fighting against cannibals.

Not that this was anything like that.

As she walked down the hall, she took in more of the surroundings; the place obviously had been built back in the 1800's. You could tell by walking through the halls that the place had been renovated many different times throughout the years it had stood here. The decor didn't match the design of the halls in many places, leaving many areas looking slightly tacky and the decorations out of place.

_This place could really use a makeover..._ She thought as she moved further down the hallway. Humming to herself, it made her remember the art gallery that they had once been to a few years ago when the orphanage had funded a trip to New York. They'd gone to the Metropolitan Museum while visiting, each room holding its own story and time period the same as this house. _At least this place doesn't have that old persons smell._

Something bright caught her eye as she passed by a pitch black alcove. She veered towards it, squinting her eyes a little—

—and jumped back, a high-pitched yelp escaping her lips as something moved within the shadows of the alcove. Anne took a step back as a person stepped out from the shadows, a white mask obscuring his face. He wore a black trench coat which covered his entire body and making it impossible to distinguish any characteristics of him. What caused her to catch her breath, was the gleaming metal off the sharp object he held in his right hand. He took another step forward and Anne stumbled backwards, her back hitting the closed window behind her as he brought the blade down in an arch.

It was in that instant that she was aware of what was happening to her. A sharp pain throbbed at the center of her chest as she stared down at her breasts, the sharp blade the man held was protruding through her rib cage in between them. Blood seeped from the wound, spilling down her blouse and onto the hardwood floor beneath her feet. Looking up from her breasts to the man, she searched for some kind of understanding.

A reason for _why_ he had done this to her.

The last thing Anne saw before being swallowed by total darkness was the dark eyes as they glistened in the moonlight as she let out a scream with her final breath.


	4. Chp 4: A Nightmare Brought to Life

**Chapter Four**  
**A Nightmare Brought to Life**

**This chapter picks up where we last left off. For those of you wondering, we will soon find out where Ms. Mary went and why Mr. Barrows hasn't made an appearance yet.**

* * *

_Oh, god. What the hell was that!?..._ Jennifer thought as she stepped out into the hallway and looked down both to her left and right. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably. That scream could have came from either direction and she didn't want to get lost in this place.

Walking down the hall to her left, she looked around for any sign of where Anne might have gone. She had only left a few minutes before the mysterious scream that had pierced their ears, so she couldn't have gone that far. Outside the sky lit up with bright flashes of lightning and caused Jennifer to nearly jump out of her skin with each thunderous boom. She hated thunderstorms, had since she was very young.

On either side of her, the halls extended away from her and continued on in darkness. Deciding to chance going to the left, she pressed onward down the dark hall and made sure to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. To her right was a door. It was labeled "STUDY" and when Jennifer gave the knob a slight turn, she found that it was locked. Looking at the door, she couldn't help but feel a strange presence coming from it as she stared at it. It was like someone or... _something_ was whispering into her ear, coaxing her into going inside.

Placing a hand on the door, Jennifer felt a strong pulse coming from it, as if it had a heartbeat. A throbbing headache built up in her head, it felt as if someone were pricking at the top of her spinal column with a knife, trying to separate her brain and kill her. Images flashed in front of her. A woman standing in the center of a pentagram, a knife held in her hand as she plunged it deep into the chest cavity of someone that she could not see. _What is going on!?_ It felt so real to her, she could actually feel the pain in her chest as the blade carved a hole right to her—

—glass shattered from somewhere behind her and a hoarse scream broke the silence. Rushing over to the window in front of her, Jennifer saw that it was directly across the courtyard and at the hallway opposite of hers. At the broken window, Anne's head was hanging through the maw of broken glass, blood staining her hair and a look of anguish plastered to her face. Suddenly, the entire glass panel shattered and Anne's body went flying through the air, falling into the depths below. Her body slammed into the paved courtyard, blood oozing out the back of her skull as she rolled several feet.

"ANNE!" She screamed out at the top of her lungs.

Looking on from the window, her gaze traveled up from Anne's bleeding corpse to the window from which she'd been thrown through. There stood a man in the frame of the window. A white mask obscured his face, so Jennifer was unable to make out any distinguishable facial features. In his right hand was a sharp object, glistening in the moonlight and covered in blood. It was then that Jennifer noticed he was staring right at _her_.

He'd killed Anne and now he was coming after her and the others.

Backing away from the window, she stumbled as she turned around and ran right into Laura. A yelp escaped from her throat, a tidal wave of terror washing over her and ebbing just as easily as it had come. Laura however, was trying to calm her down with consoling whispers.

"Hey, are you okay?" Laura asked. "Lotte and I heard you screaming from the dining hall, we'd thought something had happened. Did you find Anne?"

"A-An...ne.." She stammered, trying to find the courage to get the words out but was to stricken with fear. One of her close friends had just been murdered and she was so scared of what was going to happen to the rest of them.

"Anne? What about her, Jennifer?" Laura had both hands on her shoulders, trying to see what had terrified her friend so badly. "Try to calm yourself, jesus, you look like you just saw someone die."

It was impossible for her to say a single word. The words were there, caught in her throat and on the tip of her tongue, but, she was to petrified to say them. All she could do was point a shaking finger towards the window where she'd seen Anne get murdered at. It wasn't much of an answer, but she couldn't just sit there frozen in fear.

Turning to face the window, Laura walked over to it and peered through. On the other side of the courtyard a window had been shattered and the curtains were blowing erratically from the heavy wind, it looked as if maybe someone had accidentally shattered it. Peering down in the courtyard below, she searched the hedge-filled square for any signs of Anne, but didn't see anything.

Laura walked back over to where her friend was huddled at, confused. "I don't see anything, did the thunder scare you again?"

There was no reply from Jennifer. In the time it had taken Laura to look out the window, the young girl had gone into a state of shock. Her gaze was transfixed in front of her. She reminded Laura of her father back before he'd been hospitalized because of his leukemia, the man had been in the Gulf War in the 90's and had developed what most had come to call the "Thousand Yard Stare". It was hard to tell if this was the case though, the damn hall was so dark that she was having a hard time seeing her.

"Come on, lets get back to the dining hall."

Gripping onto her tightly, she helped Jennifer steady herself to her feet and then began guiding her back down the way they'd come down.

She had no idea what had caused her friend to become so petrified, but, Laura thought that maybe once they got back to the dining hall they could try and get her to talk. Never before had Laura seen Jennifer get this way. Yes, she was an easy person to scare and most of the girls at the orphanage had often teased her for this, but not like this. Whatever Jennifer had seen, it had scared the living hell out of her.

They were almost to the door, when she noticed something strange at the other end of the hallway. Squinting her eyes, Laura saw what looked to be the outline of a large salute. It was odd. She hadn't noticed it before when she'd come through looking for Jennifer and Anne. Where had it come from? And why hadn't she noticed it before?

Approaching the door, she went to grab the handle when she noticed out of the corner of her eye that the figure was... _moving!_ She stumbled backwards, the catatonic girl in her arms falling like a porcelain doll against the wall as she fell on her back. Skittering backwards, Laura cried out as the figure—who turned out to be a full grown man—stepped out from the shadows and into the dimly lit corridor right in front of them. In his hands he held a blood covered knife, holding it above his head with malicious intent.

"Lotte! _Lotte!_" She screamed as she backed up into a dresser and knocked over several vases.

Taking a step forward, the masked-man completely ignored Jennifer, instead focusing on the prey who was cowering on the floor in front of him. He smiled beneath his mask. There was no thrill in killing someone, not unless his victims wore a mask of terror right before he extinguished the light of life from their eyes. The look of terror in the blonde girl's eyes would suffice him much longer than what that brunette had. He would make her into one of his greatest trophies.

Holding her hands up in defense, Laura closed her eyes as she waited for the inevitable painful death about to be delivered to her. Raising the knife high above his head, he moved in for the kill when he was suddenly struck with something from behind in his back. Opening her eyes, she saw Lotte standing behind the man, an iron poker clenched in her hands and she was breathing heavily.

"You okay?" She asked, grabbing Laura's hand and helping her to her feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Laura turned to look at the crumbled man lying on the floor in front of them.

The bastard had just tried to _kill_ her and Jennifer.

Had it not been for Lotte showing up when she did, the bastard probably would have succeeded in doing so.

"Who the hell is this guy?" Lotte had directed the question at Jennifer who she was helping to her feet. There was no response from her though, just that same blank stare that had been on her face ever since Laura had found her.

Laura shrugged.

"Hell if I know, but I say we find Anne and get the hell out of this place. The orphanage sounds a lot better than staying here, waiting to be killed by some knife wielding psychopath."

"Yeah, look." Lotte said. "I'll go search for Anne, you take Jennifer and find Ms. Mary's room. The keys to her car are bound to be in there somewhere."

"Okay, but be careful. There's no telling if this guy will get back up or not. Or if he's by himself." Laura warned.

"You too."

Taking her out of Lotte's arms, Laura supported Jennifer and then watched as she began to jog down the hallway, being swallowed up by the ambiant darkness.

Leading her down the hallway towards the dining room, she decided that maybe staying there wasn't such a good idea after all, she didn't want to be anywhere near that psychopath when he decided to wake up. Instead, she lead her through the dining room and back into the hall where they'd been at earlier. If they could find a safe place, she was going to make sure that everything was safe with Jennifer and leave her there so that she could go get the keys to Ms. Mary's car. That way, if something happened Laura wouldn't have to worry about keeping Jennifer safe while dealing with whatever problems might occur.

Reaching the end of the dark hall, she used her free hand to open the door and looked inside. Once she saw that there was no one inside, Laura brought Jennifer into the room and closed the door behind them.

Sitting Jennifer down on the couch, Laura tried to come up with a plan for what they were going to do. All they could do right now was find the keys to the car and wait for Lotte to come back with Anne, if they even came back that was. They needed to be prepared in the event that neither one of the girls showed up, although that was the last thing that Laura wanted to think about happening.

Walking over to the window, she stared outside at the front lawn of the mansion below. It was so dark out, all she could see through the downpour was the lantern's that were swaying with the wind. The dimly lit lighting fixtures only revealed so much and even with that, it was just enough for Laura to know what she was looking at.

_What was that!?_ For a brief moment, Laura could have sworn she had heard movement out in the hallway. The soft creaking of a floorboard as it shifted due to weight being applied to it, then a delay in sound as the weight moved from it. Listening for the sound to be repeated, she waited several moments, but other than her own hammering heart she heard nothing. When nothing happened, she figured it must have been the house. A place this old, there was no telling how unsafe the flooring was.

Behind her on the couch, Jennifer began to stir and sat up. Looking around frantically, she found herself in an unfamiliar surrounding and thought that she might be in the presence of something dark, but, when she saw Laura standing near the window, she let out a sigh of relief and leaned her head back against the armrest.

"What's going on?" She asked. Laura whirled around, a look of relief washing over her as she hurried over to where her friend sat at and knelt down next to her. "Where are Lotte and Anne?"

"Everything is fine, don't worry. Lotte is out looking for Anne and when they get back, the four of us are going back to the orphanage."

"Good, this place gives me the creeps." Jennifer mumbled.

Swinging her legs over the side of the couch, she got to her feet and stretched. Jennifer noticed that her legs were sore, like she'd been shoved to the ground by someone and the fall had been broken by landing on her legs. She had no idea how this had happened, she didn't remember much of what had been happening since she'd seen that glass window shattered and Anne fall to her death. It was all a blur to her, as if she'd been watching it through the looking glass.

"What do you remember? About earlier I mean." Laura asked.

Jennifer shrugged.

"Not much, after seeing that man kill Anne, I..." She trailed off, the thought of what had happened to their friend bringing tears to her eyes and she began to sob.

Laura wrapped her arms tightly around Jennifer, knowing exactly how the girl felt about what she'd told her had happened to Anne.

Although she hadn't been there to experience what Jennifer had when she'd seen Anne thrown from the window, it didn't mean that she wasn't hurt by the loss of their friend as well. Her and the girls had been very close since coming to the orphanage all those years ago. Her heart ached with loss, but she had to be strong. _They_ had to be strong if they were going to make it through this alive and see the sun rise in the morning.

When Jennifer felt that she had released all of her tears, she used her sleeve to wipe them away and looked over towards the window. It was raining heavily outside, the veil of water impregnable if not for the lighting fixtures that hung from the pillars of the front porch. She didn't care though. As Laura had said, once Lotte came back to where they were at, they were going to get the hell out of here and there was no way some rain storm was going to stop them from escaping.

Out in the hallway there was the familiar sound of the floorboards creaking once again, it sent a shiver of fear down her spine but Jennifer calmly told herself that everything was fine. It was just the loose floorboards from how old the mansion was, nothing to be worried about. Or at least Jennifer hoped so anyways.

Wrapping her arms tightly around herself to try to stay warm, Jennifer took notice of just how cold it was in the room. Had the window been opened? Looking over to where the windows were at, she saw that none of them had been opened, which raised the question of where this chilling draft was coming from. She felt uneasy. Someone was watching them from somewhere in the room, but, Jennifer was unable to pin-point exactly where from.

Above them there was a shift in the boards and a layer of dust drifted down to settle on Jennifer's shoulder. Her body became erect, paralyzed with fear as her eyes slowly peered up towards the ceiling of the room and she left out a hoarse scream. Peering down at them through a small square that had been cut into the wood of the ceiling, the killer was watching them from above. He'd been watching them this entire time. The noises they'd heard out in the hallway, it hadn't been the boards of the hallway, but, that of the very ceiling above them.

Before either could react, the killer jumped down through the hole and cut them off from the door.

Now they had no choice _but_ to fight back.

The masked man stood on the opposite side of the coffee table which dominated the middle of the small room, his expression beneath the mask he wore unreadable as he held up the knife in his right hand. Taking a step forward, he moved to the left side of the table and towards Laura, who had grabbed a vase from the fireplace and tossed it at him. The poorly tossed porcelain vase smashed against the wall next to him as he continued his advance on the two young women. Gripping the knife tightly, he lunged forward in an attempt to part the flesh between Laura's neck, but, she screamed and took several precarious steps backwards.

It gave him pleasure to see her cower away from him, the anticipation of seeing these two filthy whores as nothing but a bloodstain on the carpet gave his loins a stirring. However, his urges aside, he made another swipe and was rewarded with blood. The blade parted the flesh of her calf, slicing through the fabric of her jeans and skin as she screamed in pain. His smile widened. Serves the bitch right for coming to his home, thinking that they could take what was his.

He had thought of going after the girl to his left, but, found that she was not as tainted as the scarlett whore in front of him. Glancing at her, he saw that she was to scared to do anything to help her friend anyways. Not that it mattered, they would both beg for their lives before he stole it from them and there was nothing they could do about it.

With her back pinned to the wall, there was no where else for Laura to run and it seemed the killer knew this as he tilted his head to the side in mockery. It was the hallway all over again, she was at the mercy of the killer and Laura knew that this time Lotte would not be able to save her.

"No!" A horse scream erupted from next to the killer as Jennifer threw herself at him and collided into him, sending him crashing into a bookcase and knocking it over.

From her spot against the wall, Laura stood perfectly still for the next several moments as she stared wide-eyed at Jennifer who was standing over the overturned bookcase.

Both girls stared at each other for several moments, neither able to truly grasp what had just happened. They knew not to expect this to have been his downfall, it would be very foolish of them to think so, especially after thinking that he had been previous dealt with in the hallway by Lotte. So why would pushing him into a bookcase do anything, if not even that had?

Edging their way slowly around the fallen books, they made their way for the door as books began toppling from the pile. Neither bothered to look back, instead throwing the door open and taking off down the hall as fast as they could. They had no idea where they were going, but, just to get away from that freak. They needed to find Lotte and get out of this place, if he was able to easily get the drop on them as he did, there were bound to be many other places from which he could do again. It was almost as if he... _knew_ the layout of the house.

Thoughts of rationalizing what was happening quickly went away as from behind them there was a loud crash as the door flew open and the masked killer stepped out into the hallway. This only made the two girls run even faster, their breathing labored as his thudding footsteps on the floor spurred them to further distance themselves. Not that it mattered. If he truly wanted to find them, he would find a way.

As they disappeared around the corner and out of sight, maniacal laughter echoed down the hall as thunder clashed outside.


	5. Chp 5: Painted Crimson

**Chapter Five**  
**Painted Crimson**

**Got a special treat for everyone. This chapter is from a different characters POV.**

* * *

She wasn't sure exactly where she was going—the mansion was just as big as Lotte had predicted, if not bigger—and covering all this ground by herself was going to take some time. It had been such a foolish idea, thinking that she could look for Anne in a place that was twice as large as what the orphanage had been. If she wasn't careful, she surely would end up getting herself lost. And in a place like this, there was no telling what would be waiting in the shadows around every corner.

With each minute that passed, all she could think of was whether or not the other girls would be safe while waiting for her to return with Anne.

It hadn't occurred to her until now of whether or not she would even find the brunette alive and well. She wanted to think that she would find the girl alive, but, there was always that chance that she wouldn't and in the event that this was the case, Lotte wanted to be prepared for the worst.

At the end of the hallway, she found herself standing in front of a door. To her left there were several glass panels, outside she could see the hedge maze that was overlooked by the dominating mansion. Peering through the thick blanket of rain that obscured her view, Lotte tried to search for any signs of danger in the courtyard before going outside. Grabbing the doorknob, she turned it slightly and poked her head in through the door. Once she saw that it was clear, Lotte let out a short breath before moving forward. Stepping through the door using the same method as before, Lotte looked around and noticed that she was in another hallway. The hall wasn't exactly big either; just a corridor that led to another door that would take her outside. Walking up to the door, she took a deep breath and walked through, the chills running up her spine as she stepped out into the windy weather outside.

Letting out a deep breath of the cool evening air as she entered the garden of the mansion, Lotte took in her surroundings. Her heart was pounding and she felt gripped by overwhelming fear. Why? She had no idea. What she did know was that there was someone in this house stalking her and the other girls, and if Laura was right, that meant that they were in danger.

Winding her way down the path that arched out to the left from the door she'd come through, Lotte found herself surrounded on either side by large patterns of flowers, the plant vines intertwining themselves with the picket fences that served as the boundaries on either side of the plants. Several windows above were open, the source of the chilling air and puddles of rain that had formed on the ground. Once on the other side of the garden, she was led to a giant storage shed that had a set of stairs leading down to another door. Rather than check the door however, Lotte decided to instead go back to check out that pool that she'd seen when they'd arrived at the mansion earlier. There was a set of stairs that led down into a small area of the courtyard where the pool was at.

Cautiously stepping forward, Lotte walked beside the pool and surveyed the area. Looking around, she didn't see anything that was out of the ordinary and the cover over the pool blocked her from being able to see beneath into the water. She hurried along past the pillow and came to a stop at where the drainage system was. There was some sort of red liquid on the machine and when she knelt down to look at it, Lotte noticed that it was... _blood!_ Why on earth was there blood here? And where had it come from?

"What the hell is going on?..." Lotte whispered. She was partially listening for anything out of the ordinary, not wanting to be taken by surprise if someone grew a pair and tried to sneak up on her.

On the pavement to her left, she noticed that there was a trail of the blood that traveled for several meter's and disappeared into the underbrush. Curious as to where it went, she stood up and followed the trail of blood that quickly began thinning out as she followed it. The trail of blood went on for several more yards before disappearing at the door of a tool shed that was covered by an overgrowth of weeds. She also noticed that the ground here was disturbed. Almost like someone had previously opened the door, but that would be impossible, wouldn't it?

Grabbing a handful of the overgrown weeds, she began tearing them away from the door so that she could open it.

Once the door was cleared of the weeds, Lotte let out a deep breath of air as she grasped the handle of the door. She was preparing herself for whatever might be on the other side of the door once she opened it. Giving the door a hard pull, she stumbled backwards as it swung open. It was hard for her to see anything, it was dark inside and the air was thick with dust from how long it had been since the shed had been opened.

Peering through the darkness, she just could make out the objects that were typically found in a storage shed: stacks of plant pots, rusty tools and empty paint cans. Trying not to knock anything over, her hands moved around inside to search for a light switch or something that could be used to light up the dark space. It made her feel uneasy, not knowing if at any moment someone or something could jump out at her from the darkness.

Her face soon became strained with an expression of disgust, a hand coming up to cover her mouth and nose. The shed smelled like the inside of a butcher shop that had left its meat on display for far to long before putrefying, she felt the urge to vomit, but, fought against the urge to do so. It brought back memories from her childhood when she'd been ten and had been just inches away from the rotting remains of a dog that had been ran over. She could never forget the smell: rancid and nauseous were a few words that came to mind.

"Oh, shit!" Lotte gasped, throwing her arms out and catching herself against the wall. She'd almost tripped over a wooden plank that had fallen to the floor and just inches from her face was a pitchfork, its metallic teeth curved into a grin. Had she not reacted as quickly as she did, Lotte imagined that she'd be impaled on the sharp object. Letting out an exasperated sigh, she positioned herself on her feet and felt her stomach clench as she was forced to take in a lungful of the rancid air.

Feeling her hand around inside the dark shed, her hands soon found the thick chain of a hanging bulb and pulling on the chain, Lotte was rewarded with a dim illuminant of her surroundings. This brought relief to her. Or at least, that's what she thought until her eyes ventured to survey the interior of the shed.

_Dear, god..._

Keeping her composure, she knelt down to examine the body and used her free hand to turn it over. It confirmed who she had assumed it was: Anne. Fighting back the tears that began to sting her eyes, she took a deep breath before analyzing the motionless young woman lying in front of her. Several locks of her brown hair were plastered to her wet skin, Lotte also noticed shards of glass littered her hair and clothes, as well as a gaping hole in the back of her head. Had she been thrown from a window? A single stab wound was present on her slender stomach, her jacket was stained with her own blood and when Lotte placed a hand on the wound, she could feel the soft gelatinous intestine through the torn fabric. Whoever had done this, had cleanly killed the girl before sending her to her death below.

Lotte didn't even bother to look into the lifeless eyes of the girl; she didn't want to see what she already knew was a reality. Casting her eyes to the floor, she took in a deep breath as she felt tears brimming her eyes. Back at the orphanage, she'd always preferred to be alone and Anne's kindness had always been annoying to her. She'd once punched her in the stomach for trying to make conversation with her when she wanted to be left alone. Even though she hadn't liked her, it pained Lotte to see the girl's body displayed in such a gruesome manner on the floor of the shed.

She considered moving the body, but an unexpected sound from behind forced her attention away from the young girl. It sounded like the sound of footsteps scrapping against the cobblestone pathway, taking several striding steps before coming to a sudden halt almost immediately when Lotte noticed it.

Glancing back the way she'd come, Lotte turned on the balls of her shoes to see someone stepping around the bend where the path curved back the way she'd come. The young girl slowly stood up, her hand reaching for the switch-blade that she kept in her pocket in case this person was the one who had killed Anne. Flipping the blade out as the figure shuffled forward through the prevailing darkness, she saw that the figure was feminine in form and at least a foot taller than what she was. The mysterious figure turned out to be someone she hadn't expected to see: Ms. Mary. Her face was twisted in confusion, her eyes travelling from her face and down to the knife that she held in her right hand.

"What are you doing out here, Lotte?" Ms. Mary asked. "And where are the other girls?"

Lotte remained suspicious of her, not sure whether to even speak to her or not.

It did seem odd to her that Ms. Mary would bring them to this house, depart during dinner to look for her husband who hadn't made an appearance and then suddenly Anne turns up murdered. To most people this would merely be a coincidence, but, she knew better than to think that. She wasn't as gullible as the other girls and there was no way Lotte was going to believe anything this woman told her.

"When you never came back, we went looking for you. I got separated from the other girls, this place is so big that I ended up following the halls until I came out here."

Studying her for a moment, Ms. Mary let out a sigh. "Very well, but I will be taking that." Her hand stretched out for the knife that Lotte had. "Hand it over, Lotte. Now."

Lotte shook her head.

"I don't think so."

"What!? You would dare back talk me?" Ms. Mary asked furiously.

"Ms. Mary, do you not even know whats going on? We got attacked by some psycho after you left, Jennifer was freaking out about seeing Anne get thrown from one of the windows!"

"That is a well thoughtout excuse, Lotte, but I am growing tired of these games! No one is trying to harm you and I don't appreciate you having a sharp object pointed at me."

"You think I'm making this up!?" Lotte shouted.

Ms. Mary gave her an incredulous look.

"I find what you're telling me very hard to believe, yes."

"Oh yeah? Then what the hell is _that!?_"

She pointed behind her inside the shed and stepped aside so that Ms. Mary could see Anne's mutilated body.

When her eyes rested on the broken body inside the shed, Ms. Mary let out a gasp as she covered her mouth. Obviously she had thought that Lotte was making everything up as a way to get out of trying to really explain why she'd been out in the garden. Now she believed the young girl, there really was someone in the house and they were trying to kill them. It made her wonder exactly how Lotte had come across Anne's body.

Had she killed her? It only made sense. How else would she have discovered the body?

"What did you do to her!?" She yelled, grabbing Lotte by her shoulders and shaking her. "I demand that you explain yourself! What happened!?"

"Me?" Lotte shouted, shaking herself free of Ms. Mary's grasp. "You think I did this!? What the hell is wr—"

She was cut short as Ms. Mary slapped her hard across the face, her face an expression of anguish.

"Don't you dare curse in front of me, you foul mouthed girl. You will receive punishment for this once we return back to the dining hall and then I will be calling the police. Have I made myself clear?"

"Fuck you!" Lotte screamed, shoving past her and walking down the path back the way she'd come. There was no way that bitch was going to try and pin Anne's murder on her! She'd find the other girls and get Jennifer to tell her what had happened. Ms. Mary liked Jennifer, maybe she would listen to her.

Stalking up the path to the house, she mumbled while looking over her shoulder to see if Ms. Mary was following her. She wasn't able to see her though, not that Lotte gave a damn as to whether she was following her or not. The only thing that was on her mind was getting back to the others and to get the hell out of this place. It made her curious as to why she'd been accused of the young girls murder. Was this act just a clever ruse to blame her for it?

When she entered the house through the door that she'd come through, Lotte pressed forward and hooked the first left at the end of the hallway. It led her several feet before ending at another door. Stepping through onto the other side, she had to choose her footing carefully. This part of the mansion obviously hadn't undergone renovations yet. The flooring and walls were old, rickety, and looked as if they would soon be falling apart. She sure as hell didn't want to be around when this place finally came tumbling down.

Behind her the sound of a door opening echoed from back the way she'd come. It seemed that Ms. Mary had decided to pursue her after all, maybe she could lose her in the winding halls if she was lucky and if not, well, she'd just have to go one step at a time.

Opening the door to her left, Lotte stepped inside and closed the door, then waited several moments. On cue, the pounding of footsteps could be heard on the hardwood floor outside. Beneath the door, a shadow stopped just outside. Moments later the doorknob began to move, closing her eyes Lotte silently cursed when suddenly there was a yelp from somewhere down the hallway. Releasing the doorknob, the unknown person quickly moved down the hallway and disappeared around the corner.

Letting out a sigh, she closed her eyes and leaned her head against the door.

"Now what?" She whispered.

Taking in her surroundings, Lotte discovered that she was in what had once been a young boys room. The room itself wasn't that big; it was cluttered with furniture and toys that were covered in years of dust. Given the circumstances Lotte would consider going back out into the hallway, but, she figured that maybe she could find something useful in this room if she searched around.

The room itself looked to have not been given proper care over the last decade. The walls were weathered from years of dry rot, several deep carvings indented into the walls in the form of an X. Pale light filtered in through the damaged blinds, a lighting fixture outside providing her with the means to be able to survey her surroundings. Parts of the carpet were covered with mold and patch's of the material had been ripped away in tethers.

Next to where the bed sat at, an old bookcase that was suffering from the same neglect as the rest of the room stood out from the rest of the room. Curious, Lotte made her way up to the bookcase so that she could examine it. The contents it held were out of place from the rest of the room, whereas everything else was layered with dust and old, the texts were all fairly new and were about black magic. What reason would a child have for studying books based on the occult? It was while that she was pondering this that she caught a glimpse of what looked to be a door tucked in between the corner and the bookcase.

_A door?_

Putting her shoulder in between the shelve and the wall, Lotte carefully placed her hands upon the smooth surface and pushed the bookcase away from the wall. Although it was fairly heavy from all the books it held, it slid across the carpeted floor with ease before resting against the bed. Sighing with exertion, she wiped her hands on her jacket and went to examine the hidden door.

When she opened the door, Lotte found that it was an old maintenance crawl space that led through the interior of the walls for the wiring of the electricity. A foul odor wafted through the square hole, a musky smell causing her to become nauseous and take a step back. The inside of the walls were coated in dust and dirt, and was covered with thick cobwebs. Electrical wires turned, disappearing around the corner and leading to what she assumed were the outlets of the other rooms. Lotte frowned. It sure did seem like a poor discovery, she wasn't sure exactly why she felt as disappointed as she was, but maybe the thought of all that was going on had gotten to her.

It was then that she decided to investigate further, there had to be _something_ important down this crawl space if it had been closed off. Squeezing herself into the cramped quarters of the inside of the crawl space, Lotte had to squat just to be able to move forward and used her lighter as a flashlight. The air was heavy with dust, making it hard for her to breath as she followed the electrical wires to what she hoped was a secret passage to the front of the house. With how old the Barrows' Mansion was, it was likely that it had been built around the time of the Civil War, so maybe this was an old crawl space from back when they would hide the slaves in the south while avoiding the hounds of the slave country.

Up ahead she could hear squeaking sounds, likely made by rats that had made a nest inside the walls. There was also a change in the air that she noticed, the air was colder here and she could smell the faint aroma of ammonia, which was odd considering she was inside the wall. With each step the smell grew stronger and the crawl space became smaller. It made her tense up, she didn't want to accidentally get stuck in the crawl space and then no one find her. Of all the ways she could think to die, starving to death while trapped wasn't something that she wanted to think about.

When she came to the end of the tunnel, Lotte discovered that there was a small door sitting at the end of the crawl space where the walls opened up to a bigger proportioned space. The door reminded her of an old-fashioned freezer, made to last for decades and to resist years of rust. Why on earth had someone put a freezer inside the crawl space? Ice covered the small panel glass window, obscuring Lotte from being able to see inside.

Grasping the ice covered handle, she pulled as hard as she could and let out a grunt as the old hinges finally began to give, the door swung open to a blast of freezing air. Bringing a hand up, she had to cover her face from the chilling air as mist wafted from inside. The interior of the freezer was to dark for her to see and because of the freezing air coming from inside, it was impossible for her to ignite her lighter. Rather than risk slipping inside the freezer, her hand moved around for the light switch and when she did find the light switch, flipped it to reveal what was inside.

The interior of the freezer made her step back and feel nauseous once again. On the ground at her feet, vomit covered the floor as she used the sleeve of her jacket to wipe away what remained of the contents of her stomach. There were a dozen, if not two dozen, dead bodies inside the freezer. Blood and gore covered the floor, the bodies covered in ice and frost bitten from how long they'd been housed within the confines of the freezing deathtrap. So many youthful faces, all frozen in masks of horror stared at her with quizzical looks of why their fates had come to this.

This time she didn't bother holding back, it was all to much to see all those faces, so she let the tears slide down her cheeks. Why would someone kill so many innocent girls? Did the Barrows know about this? They would have to, finding this storage freezer had been no accident. Those sick fuckers were killing young girls and storing their bodies here like they were nothing more than slabs of meat.

Her mind was screaming for her to get moving and so that's exactly what she did, going as fast as she could through the crawl space to where the exit was. That was when she heard a scrapping noise up ahead and saw that the door was being closed, someone was trying to trap her inside. When she reached the door, Lotte threw all of her weight forward and slammed into the door, but it didn't even budge.

"Fuck! No, no, no no, this can't be happening!" She screamed, banging hard on the door and shouting as loud as she could.

For the next several minutes she continued throwing her weight against the door, hoping that by some divine miracle it would actually make a difference. Finally, exhaustion won over and she sat back against the wall of the crawl space as she tried to catch her breath. It would appear that she wasn't going anywhere any time soon, she was going to have to find another way out. Panic began to settle in. Being in an enclosed space had always been a fear of hers and it was starting to take hold, she could feel the walls begin to close in around her. She was going to die down here if she didn't do something quick, it was unlikely that either Jennifer or Laura were going to find her.

With a sigh, Lotte turned around and began walking back down the path, wanting to see if maybe she'd missed something back at the freezer. It was unlikely, but it was better than sitting here waiting to starve to death or have whoever it was that closed off her escape come back to finish her off. Determined to find a way out, Lotte set herself in her conviction and pressed forward into the darkness.


	6. Chp 6: Don't Cry, Jennifer

**Chapter Six**  
**Don't Cry, Jennifer**

**Before we start this chapter there are some things I'd like to point out to everyone so that it won't confuse any of the readers. This chapter takes place at the exact same time as the previous chapter where Lotte met up with Ms. Mary in the inner garden where the two ended up having their argument where she accused Lotte of murdering Anne.**

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Quickly and quietly, Jennifer opened the door. She found herself standing on a balcony that overlooked the courtyard at the back of the mansion, down below on their left was the expansive hedge-maze that she'd seen earlier in the day as they came up the driveway. Checking to make sure that it was clear, she motioned for Laura to follow her and the two girls silently moved forward using the cover of the railing of the balcony to the door that was on the other side.

Once they were through the door, the two girls followed the hallway in front of them until they came to another door. Making sure it was safe first, both girls entered the room and Jennifer locked the door behind them. It was silly to think that they would be safe in this room, not after what had happened minutes before when they'd been attacked but Laura needed a moment to rest so that she could check on her leg. Blood had begun to seep through the makeshift bandage that she had put on it, if they weren't careful it would become infected.

The room that they'd locked themselves in turned out to be one of the many guest bedrooms that they'd been led past when they'd first come to the mansion. It was a simple room; a single bed, a dresser and anything else that one might need for accommodations.

Turning to see where Laura had gone, she found that the blonde-haired girl was in the bathroom standing in front of the sink in the bathroom. The faucet was lightly running with crystal clear water so that it wouldn't make much noise and she had her hand beneath the flowing water to wash away the blood that was starting to dry on her leg beneath her pants. By then the water in the small basin had turned a light red from her blood, staining the once clear water.

"Are you, okay?" She asked, standing at the entrance to the bathroom as she watched her friend apply a towel to the wound to help slow down the bleeding.

Laura nodded.

"Yes. I just need to get it to stop bleeding, that bastard cut me pretty deep."

They stood in silence for the next several minutes, Laura tending to her cut while Jennifer wondered what was going to happen to the two of them.

"Do you think we'll find Lotte and go back to the orphanage?" She asked.

"We'll be fine," Laura assured her as she limped out of the bathroom. "Once we get out of here, that bastard will pay for what he did to Anne. You have my word, Jennifer."

Gazing around the room, she tried to locate any hiding places from which the killer could come from like he'd done before when they'd been hiding earlier. It still made her feel uncomfortable, looking over every crevice and board of the ceiling to make sure that it couldn't be used to set a trap once more by the killer. It gave her some much needed relief when she came to the conclusion that there were none in this room. Or at least there were none that Jennifer could see.

"I-I don't feel so good," Laura groaned before stumbling into the bathroom and the retching of vomit could be heard moments later.

Following her into the bathroom, she held back Laura's hair while she got the spell of sickness that had befallen her out of her system.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

There was no response, only more retching which forced her to turn the other way to escape from the horrific smell. When she was finally done, Laura stood up trembling as she stumbled back into the bedroom before sitting down on the bed. Her skin was alabaster pale and slick with sweat, almost as if she'd somehow been struck with sudden sickness. She'd never seen anything like it before.

Jennifer carefully placed her hand over Laura's chest and pushed her gently until she was lying on her back. She had no idea what could be done to help her friend other than make her as comfortable as possible. Giving the pillow a good fluffing, she carefully placed it beneath her friends head. Placing the back of her hand against Laura's forehead, her fears being confirmed. Her friend's forehead was covered with sweat and her breathing was becoming labored. She was also starting to burn up. Could she be coming down with a fever? At least, that's what Jennifer assumed. There was no explaining it, and she was wasting time sitting here wondering what to do instead of actually getting out there and try to find some kind of medicine for her.

"Jennifer..." Her voice was barely a whisper. "...I'm scared."

Turning away from her friend, she tried to ignore the building lump of emotion at the back of her throat. "I'm scared too."

She let out a labored breath. "Don't leave me, okay?"

"I won't, I promise."

"My leg hurts, is it bad?"

Jennifer looked down at her friends leg, grimacing at the stained sheets beneath her pants leg.

"No, its fine." She lied.

"You don't have to lie," Laura smiled weakly at her before turning to look at the wall. "I just wanted to finally have a family... Is that really to much to ask for?"

Before she could open her mouth to say anything, Laura had already let out a whimper as she began to tremble with pain. To be honest, there was nothing that Jennifer could say that would make the blonde feel any better. She herself was consumed with overwhelming fear but she knew that something needed to be done and they couldn't wait any longer.

"Laura," She whispered. The blonde turned to look at her, using the sleeve of her jacket to wipe away the tears on her cheeks. "I'm going to head out, to look for something that we can use to help bandage your leg better. Maybe I'll find a phone if I'm lucky."

She could see that Laura had a pained look on her face; she wasn't sure what it was…call it "woman's intuition", but she could sense that something terrible wrong was about to happen, whether it be to her or Laura was unclear.

After several minutes Jennifer decided that she was going to have to go back out into the halls if she was ever going to find medicine for Laura. Once she was sure that the trembling blonde was well enough to be left alone, she stepped out into the hallway and closed the door behind her.

Just beyond the room they'd taken refuge in was a set of double doors that led into what Jennifer found to be a small gallery. In the middle of the room was a single marble statue; a naked Greek woman that held a vase propped atop her left shoulder. Over than the statue that was meant to be the main attraction, several pictures adorned the walls to help give the room a more glamorous appearance. There was also a door across from her, she had no idea where it led but it was better than turning around.

An empty narrow hallway lay ahead. It was dark, the only light coming from the flashes of lightning outside.

The hall that she stood in held little to nothing in terms of use, other than the door at the end of the hall and one that was found half hidden by a shelve that was the only decoration.

Opening the door to the room, Jennifer poked her head inside and looked around. It looked to be a master bedroom, one that was likely used by either the Barrows or the Butler. There was a single master bed that took up a large sum of the room, as well as an antique cabinet to her right that held old pictures of who she assumed were dead relatives. A TV sat at the foot of the bed, it was one of those old-fashioned ones with the turn knobs. It looked like it hadn't been used it quite some time, giving Jennifer the impression that someone had been keeping this room looking the same since the late 50's.

On a stand next to the cabinet was a birdcage, upon further inspection Jennifer saw that it held a rare and exotic looking bird. She had no idea what kind of species of bird it was, but was sure that it had been very hard for them to smuggle it into the United States. Upon noticing the person looking at it, the bird began to flap its wings erratically as it refused to stay still inside the small space that it occupied.

"Weird." She muttered. She couldn't quite place it, but it sounded as if the bird was talking. The voice was high-pitched, leaving the interpretation of its words hard to piece together.

It sounded almost as if the bird was say... _I'll kill you_.

Walking up to the cage, she figured that maybe she could let the bird out the window and be done with it. Releasing the latch, the small door swung open and the bird took to flight instantly as it shot out of the cage. It flew happily around the room, thankful for the larger space for it to fly around in. Now she just needed to open the window on the other side of the room to let it out into the wild and then Jennifer would continue her search for something she could use to help Laura with the cut on her leg.

As she made her way towards the window to open it, she threw a glance over her shoulder so that she could keep an eye on the bird and had to throw up her arms over her head as the bird came swooping down towards her. It cawed insanely, diving down towards her and using its talons to slice at the flesh on the back of her neck. Swatting at the bird was difficult, trying to make sure it didn't hurt her also didn't help as she kept falling against the furniture as it continued its attempts at harming her.

Jennifer had no idea why the bird would suddenly become so hostile towards her, all she could think about was getting that window open so that she could let it out.

Making her way over to where the window was at, she had to dodge several more attempts by the bird as it tried to assault her. Once she was standing in front of her window, Jennifer scrambled frantically with the latch while trying to shield herself and threw open the window. A huge gust of air blew in at her, her hair flying into her face and obscuring her vision as she was caught off guard. Lucky for her, the bird had been close enough to the window that when she had thrown open the doors it had slipped out into the stormy night.

Letting out a sigh, she closed the window so that the bird couldn't come back inside the house and placed her forehead against the cold glass.

Touching the cuts on the back of her neck, she let out a soft hiss as just grazing the wound with the tip of her fingers caused immense pain.

"Okay, maybe that's not such a good idea..." She mumbled through clenched teeth as she stepped away from the window.

Deciding that there was nothing else in the room that could help her, Jennifer began walking towards the door to go back into the hall when something caught her attention. A picture sat on the nightstand on the left side of the bed, curiosity took over as she walked over and picked up the object.

The picture was covered in dust, which was strange considering how orderly the rest of the room looked. Using her thumb to clear off the dust, she raised a brow as she stared down at the strange picture. It was a picture of conjoined twins, toddlers to be exact. The picture displayed that this particular set of twins were conjoined at the base of their skull, one attached to the other from behind. Repulsed was a word that came to mind as she sat the picture down, trying to wonder exactly why the Barrows would have a picture like this in their house. It didn't help that the picture looked to be recent, perhaps maybe ten or fifteen years ago at best but there was no way for Jennifer to be certain. Not that any of this was relevant to the current situation, she was wasting time standing around playing detective so she put the thoughts and the picture behind her, then left the room.

Stepping through the door previously unsearched, she scanned up the hallway ahead of her. Confirming that it was all clear, the door was quietly closed behind her.

This hallway was much like the other one. It was narrow. The beige wallpaper was yellowed and peeling, its age having finally caught up with it. The hall was decorated with several dressers and shelves which held expensive china on them, making the narrow hall even more a confining trap. Just up ahead the hallway took a sharp turn to the right which revealed to lead to another door.

Another hallway lay ahead, leading Jennifer through past more doors that proved to be locked when inspected.

Two doors stood at the end of the hall, she decided that she would check the one on the right before moving on.

"Shit," Jennifer muttered, turning the handle of the door only to find that it was locked. Someone had a serious case of leaving doors locked in this house.

Trying the door in front of her however yielded a greater reward and she suddenly found herself standing in a well-lit bathroom. It looked to have been recently remodeled as when she walked in her shoes squelched from the polished tile flooring.

Looking around, she found the medicine cabinet and began looking through its contents for the supplies that she needed. Her search turned up several patch's of gauze, some hemostat and a thick roll of bandages for the gash on Laura's leg. Stuffing all of the items into her sweater pockets, Jennifer left the bathroom and began to make her way back down the hall in the direction she had come from.

Rounding the corner, she came to a complete stop as the door at the end of the hallway opened, followed by the sharp snapping of an object. Staring in frozen terror at the person in front of her, Jennifer watched as the man who had killed Anne held up what looked to be an impossibly large pair of scissors that were made from two long metal blades that had been welded together just above the handles. The blades snapped open with a hiss before he began stalking towards her with murderous intent.

It took a moment for Jennifer to realize what was happening before she turned around and darted back towards the bathroom where she'd found the medical supplies for Laura. Throwing open the door, she ran towards the stalls which were used by the guests of the house and took up a hiding place inside the last one. Minutes later the door was kicked open and the sound of footsteps could be heard as the person—whom she'd dubbed the 'Scissorman'—closed the door behind him with a loud bang.

Trying to not whimper, she clamped a hand over her mouth to muffle any and all noise which she might let out.

Snapping the blades shut menacingly, the Scissorman looked around the entrance of the bathroom before stalking towards the stalls. He knew the bitch had taken refuge in one of the stalls, she wasn't going to get away from him this time.

Tucked away in the last stall, Jennifer had her eyes closed tightly. Praying to whatever god might been listening for safety from the man that was in the room with her, all she could do was hope that it would be answered. With each door that was kicked open, she wanted to cry out. He would eventually get to the one she was hiding in and when he did, she knew that it was going to be the end for her. She was trapped in this bathroom and it would be her final resting place unless by some divine miracle something happened to help her.

Scissorman had looked in every stall except the one at the very end. He knew that had to be where the bitch was hiding, all he needed to do was kick the door in, take her by surprise and pierce her chest with his coveted scissors. It would be one less whore to have to eliminate, then he would continue his search for the other whore that had been with her when he'd attacked them earlier

_Please, god. If you're up there I could use some help right about now..._

As fate would have it, her prayer was answered.

From somewhere outside there was a loud banging noise that sounded like a door being slammed shut.

It caught Scissorman's attention just as he was going to kick in the final stall. Turning to listen for the noise to repeat itself, there were scuffling footsteps of someone running down a hallway near by and growling ferociously, turning to face the door he looked between the door and the stalls trying to decide the best course of action. He stalked towards the bathroom door and left to pursue the person in the hall.

Letting out a breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding, Jennifer opened her eyes and tried to remain as composed as she possibly could. She'd just come close to dying, she had been ready for him to open the door to her stall and end her life. But it hadn't happened like that and she was still alive, that meant that he was going after one of the others!

It had to be either Lotte that had made that noise or Ms. Mary. She had to warn them! She couldn't just leave them out there not knowing that the killer was coming after them.

Once she mustered up enough courage to leave the bathroom stall, Jennifer opened the door and looked down the hall both ways before noticing that the door she'd tried earlier that was locked was now standing open. She knew this was the path taken by Scissorman after leaving the bathroom, there was no doubt. The only thing stopping her from following was the thought of what might happen to Laura while she was gone and if she didn't go after Scissorman what would happen to the person who had made that noise?

Deciding that it was for the best Jennifer chanced following the path of the killer.

The hallway that she was on had once been grand from the looks of the old decor but due to years of neglect were now in poor condition, forcing her to choose her footing carefully so she didn't fall through the floor. With each step that she took the floorboards let out a squeak of protest from the shifting placed upon them by her feet. It was difficult not to make any noise, her movements had slowed down considerably because of this but Jennifer felt that it was a fair trade to make sure that the killer didn't know she wasn't far behind him.

Just up ahead where the hallway turned left there was the sound of footsteps as the Scissorman got further and further away from her. She was now standing at the corner and when she poked her head out into the open to see where he was, she saw that he was standing at the other end of the hall in front of a door trying to open it.

She was about to turn around and head back when she felt something move against her leg. Lowering her eyes down to her feet, she found that it was a gigantic rat. It was round and fat, fur covering the mass of its body. Clamping a hand over her mouth to stifle the yelp did little to cover up the noise that the rat made as it let out a squeak before darting out into the hallway leading down to where Scissorman was at.

The rat's squeak had alerted Scissorman, who turned in the direction from where the noise had come from. Holding up his deadly weapon, he slowly made his way down the hall towards the source.

Remaining where she was hidden, all Jennifer could do was stay still and be silent as she sat in the shadows praying that he wouldn't see her.

With each step he drew closer and she knew this would not end well for her.

Standing at the end of the hallway, Scissorman looked around for the source of the noise he had heard. Looking down at his foot, he watched a rat scurry out of the darkness to his right where it ran between his legs and chased itself into the small hole that it had chewed from the recent years of infestation. Scrutinizing the hall before him, he gave a indefinite huff before walking forward.

The hallway was deathly silent, say for the erratic breathing coming from beneath the mask Scissorman wore. Taking precarious steps, he searched the shadows of the hallway as he snapped the ends of his scissors closed and thrusted them forward at intervals in the hopes that he would find where someone might be hiding. Standing only inches from the small space next to the dresser where Jennifer was hidden, he slowed his own breathing and found that once he did, there was a soft intake of air directly to his right.

In a flash he swung to his right and impaled the scissors into the wall just inches from Jennifer's face. Letting out a frightened cry, she skittered forward on her hands and knees, stumbling to her feet as she tried to run from the killer. He spared her no such easy feat., grabbing her arm just as she was running past him and with impossible strength, sent her sliding across the floor.

Lying on the floor groaning, Jennifer gritted her teeth as she tried to sit up. Splinters from the floorboards had wound their way into her hands, a dozen stinging sensations pierced the flesh of her hands as she struggled to get to her feet. She was flabbergasted. Jennifer hadn't expected him to grab her. The strength that had been used to throw her across the floor, it was inhuman.

Grasping the handle of his weapon, Scissorman pulled the sharp object from its resting place in the wall with ease. Turning to face Jennifer, he refrained to staying mute as he began walking towards her.

Struggling to get to one knee, Jennifer had to lean against the wall and use one hand to push herself from the ground to be able to get to her feet. Everything hurt. Her entire body felt as if it had been dropped off a cliff, then taken for a ride down a bumpy path. It hurt just to even think, her vision slightly blurred and her brain felt as if it had been scrambled. Considering the circumstances, she didn't have the luxury to sit down and take a moment to compose herself.

By the time her eyes were focused in front of her, Scissorman had already halved the distance between the two as he stalked towards her. Glancing behind her, she saw that the door she'd come through was standing ajar so Jennifer decided that now was as good a time as any to start running for dear life.

Seeing his prey running away from him angered Scissorman, this made him go at a quicker pace as he snapped the scissors menacingly at her.

Giving chase through the door Scissorman followed her through several more winding corridors until they came to a dead end hallway that led out onto a small balcony that overlooked the back of the house. Snatching frantically at the doorknob, Jennifer threw open the door and ran out into the freezing rain. In seconds, she was soaked to the bone, her hair hanging sodden around her face.

Looking around, she tried to think of something that she could use to fight back. Aside from two lawn chairs there was nothing of use to her, unless she was planning to fight back with a plastic chair there was nothing she could do now. She was trapped. But that was the least of her worries as her eyes traveled to the door that led back into the house and she saw Scissorman's frame outlined in the darkness as he stepped out onto the balcony with her. Lightning clashed behind her, illuminating the darkness of the balcony and gleaming off the metallic blades of his weapon as he raised them up to level with her chest.

There was nowhere for her to go and he knew that, tilting his head to the side in mockery as she imagined a smirk perking up at the corner of his mouth.

Another flash of lightning pierced the dark sky behind her, once again illuminating the balcony and revealing a piece of 2x4 that had previously gone unnoticed. Snatching up the thick piece of wood, she grasped it tightly as she held it in front of her as a weapon. It wasn't much and it did little to reassure Jennifer, but it was all she had. And it was torn down just as quickly as it had come, the metal object closing over the piece of wood and splitting it in two.

Her back hit the railing that circled the balcony, a small squeak escaping from between her lips. She was like a mouse being trapped in the corner by a cat just before it pounced on its prey. She shivered with freight. The impending realization that death was bearing down on her froze her where she stood. Scissorman stood in front of her, relishing in his capture as he drew back his weapon of choice, ready for its blades to taste crimson.

In one swift move he thrusted the blades forward. Stumbling, Jennifer fell backwards against the railing as she grabbed hold of the weapon as it stopped just inches from her chest. Her arms hurt, the strength of the man was far superior to that of what hers would be at her age, which made struggling to stop the weapon inches from her chest from impaling her that much harder. It seemed that the more she tried to hold him back, the more he pressed forward and it didn't help that her hands were slipping from the grip they held. At any moment, her hands were going to lose their grip and she would become another victim of the bizarre killings that had been plaguing the four of them since Ms. Mary's abrupt departure.

Before she knew what was happening, Jennifer felt her feet leave the floor as she began to fall over the railing. The world was turned completely upside down as she fell from the balcony and to the ground below. A scream escaped from deep within her throat as she plummetted into the darkness below and out of sight, a loud thudding sound could be heard as she smacked into the wet earth below.

Staring down at the darkness below, Scissorman gazed with a blank expression into the darkness that covered the ground. He saw no signs of movement and there were no sounds that could be heard over the storm present, so he drew the conclusion that the bitch was dead. Even if she wasn't, he would deal with her permanently the next time that the two's paths crossed.

Snapping the blades of his scissors shut, he turned around and walked back inside to continue his hunt for the other two.


	7. Chp 7: Run, Laura, Run

**Chapter Seven**  
**Run, Laura, Run**

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A deafening clap of thunder rattled the walls, followed in succession by streaks of lightning. The howling wind which raged along with the ominous storm made it impossible to hear anything over the roaring as it sang in tune with the torrent rain. Outside the window, the scenic route of the path that curved to the right of the house was plunged into total darkness. Even with the powerful strobe lights, which surrounded the walkway, the darkness seemed to just swallow it completely.

It had been close to half an hour now since Jennifer had left her alone in the room to rest while she continued searching the mansion for the others, her leg was still bothering her, but thankfully not as badly as it had previously been. Thanks to the quick work done by Jennifer, Laura was certain that her leg was going to be just fine. The only concern of hers at the moment however, was making sure that nothing happened to herself while she was lying on the bed resting.

"I wonder if she found anyone?..." It was a soft, hushed tone. The last thing she wanted was for someone to find out that she was hiding here.

Immediately after Jennifer's departure, she had gotten out of the bed and hastily placed a piece of furniture up against the door to block it. It had been tough and the strain of pushing had been a bit much for her, but Laura had worked through the pain and now, she felt a lot safer.

Not that any of it made Laura feel any better.

With how easy it had been for that masked man to get into the room through the ceiling earlier, she was sure that he would find some way to get in here with her. It seemed that throughout her entire life, she could never catch a break. This was another one of those times when Laura felt as if the fates were trying to fuck her right in the ass and if that were the case, she really wished they would apply some fucking lube.

Biting the soft flesh of her bottom lip, Laura forced herself to stand up and limped over to the window on the other side of the room. Gazing out into the ambient darkness, she tried to search for any signs of movement but found herself unable to see even the slightest of things. Turning away from the window, she cast a wary gaze around the room. There had to be something of use to them here, even if it was something as little as a small kitchen knife that she could defend herself with or maybe even a phone. Hell, she would even make due with a small thread needle if she could find one in this place.

It was a slow process but Laura began digging through drawers and looking beneath the bed, all she found though were dust mites and a few used pieces of tissue. Her head was still throbbing and the pulsating pain coming from her leg should have had her lying down on the bed, not tonight though, that was the last thing on her mind.

As she approached the closet, she thought she could hear a dull thumping coming from inside.

_What the?.._

Placing a hand cautiously on the door handle of the closet, Laura tried to come to a conclusion of what it could possibly be. There were a number of things: another person, the killer luring her into a trap or it might even be her imagination. It wasn't common for someone in her position to start hallucinating, maybe the blood loss was finally starting to get to her. Moving to the right of the closet, she grasped the handle, then turned the lock, the bolt sliding back—

—the door swung outward, a shriek of terror escaping her mouth as a dark figure leaped from the shadows of the closet and knocking Laura to the floor. Squeezing her eyes shut tightly, she waited for her inevitable death but was shocked into a laughing fit when she felt the soft gliding tongue on her cheek and the soft meow of a cat. Opening her now sore eyes, she watched as the cat laid a paw gingerly on her cheek and began licking itself. Of all the things to scare the shit out of her, this would have to be the most laughable one of all.

"At least you're not trying to kill me, are you boy?" Lying her head gently on the floor, she decided to take a moment to collect her thoughts before sitting up.

Jumping onto the floor, the cat made its way across the room and over to where the bed was at. Laura decided to follow its lead and limped over to the bed as well, at least now she wouldn't feel so alone while she waited for Jennifer to return. If she returned that was. There was always the possibility that both Jennifer and Lotte might be already dead, leaving her as the only remaining person alive in the house. Both Ms. Mary and Mr. Barrows were ruled out, it was obvious that the two of them were dead or else they'd have ran into them by now. She had to leave right now, to find a way out of this place before she became its next victim.

The only problem she faced with that decision: where would she go?

With the prevalent thunderstorm that raged outside, it was doubtful that she would find shelter or any form of help. No doubt most people in nearby Bangor had taken to staying indoors rather than brave this hellacious war of the clouds. But she also just couldn't sit here. Maybe she could could go back to Ms. Mary's room and try to find those keys like she had initially planned to do before her and Jennifer were attacked. It was a risk she was willing to take and it beat sitting here waiting for an inevitable death.

After moving the dresser away from the door, she did a thorough search of the bathroom and was able to come up with a small length of iron from beneath the sink. She swung it a few times, getting a good feel for the weapon before deciding that it would have to due for now. At least she had something to defend herself with, she had always been thankful for the little things in life that were given to her and now was as good a time as any.

Making sure that the hallway was clear of any threat before departing from the room, she quietly began to retrace the path that Jennifer and her had taken to get to their temporary safe haven. The soft squelching from the blood that had filled her shoe echoed in the hallway, it worried her that it would reveal her whereabouts but knew that there was nothing she could really do about it. The idea of walking around without shoes on in this rundown place, it sounded like the pun of some bad joke.

Suddenly, Laura heard a faint sound from somewhere up ahead. Cautiously stepping forward, she strains to hear for it again but it sounds as if its getting further away. Coming to the end of the hallway, she peered around the corner to see a figure standing at the end of the hall. Quickly, she planted her back against the wall, praying that whoever it was hadn't noticed her. If it was the killer, she was fucked. Edging around the corner, she watched the figure for a few seconds, wondering if she could be seen or not.

_What the hell?!_

Lightning flashed in the window next to the wall where the figure stood, the hallway lighting up for a brief moment to frame the silhouette of the figure.

To her relief, it turned out to be nothing more than a suit of armor.

"Is someone there?" She stood there for a solid minute. Waiting for someone to step out from the shadows, but found that there was no response. Not that it surprised her. How long had it been since her last encounter with a living person? Regardless of what little time had passed, it felt almost as if a decade had past since Jennifer's departure.

The sound occurred once more the moment she began walking forward, this time it sounded almost as if it were coming from directly above her which was odd considering that she was on the second floor. What could possibly be making the noise above her? No way was she going outside to investigate the noise. One slip up in a downpour like this and she'd break her pretty little neck on the ground. It sent a chill down her spine, the grip on the pipe in her hands becoming almost unbearable if not painful.

She heard it once more, finally able to discern the noise for what it was, a rasping, almost breathless inhale and exhale of air. Every fiber in her was telling her to run, to get the hell out of there, her legs however refused to budge. A trickle of sweat slid down her nose, despite the biting chill that filled the air. There was no mistake that she was being watched. By who, she had no idea, but there definitely were eyes on her.

Minutes ticked by as she stood in the middle of the hallway waiting for something to happen, when she came to the conclusion that nothing was going to happen she released the vice-like grip on the metal object. A sigh escaped her mouth, relief washing over her as the tension of her hammering heart began to stabilize.

Staring down at her hands, she took notice that there were cuts in the flesh of her hands from how tightly Laura had been holding the pipe.

_Jesus, was I that scared?..._

Wiping the small amount of blood onto her jacket, Laura began to walk down the hall at a crawling pace. Her eyes searched the hall, prepared for whatever could be coming at her at any moment. The noise from the roof was still present, its location the only change present. It was almost as if it were following her, stalking her from above and somehow knowing which direction she was going.

Outside the window to her right, there was a balcony which overlooked the wing of the house Laura was in. The storm raged on outside, no sign of it soon letting up either.

Her gaze traveled from the window and down the hall several yards to where a door stood open. The door was flapping from left to right, the wind so strong that it pulled it closed and then threw it open once more before repeating. Walking up to the door, she quickly slammed the door shut and used the latch at the top to lock it in place. Who the hell had just left the door open like that? Had someone been wandering the ground? Looking down at the carpet, Laura gasped at what she saw. A pair of footprints soaked the carpet, leading away from the door and going down the hallway in front of her to the door at the end.

Crouching down, she ran a finger over the footprints. It was fresh. Whoever had come through this door had come through just minutes prior to her venturing out from her safe haven. Laura had no idea who it could have been. For all she knew, it could have been any of the others or even that psycho.

She didn't want to risk running into whoever it might be, even if it might be one of the others.  
The best thing for her to do was make a bee line straight for the garage once she found the keys in Ms. Mary's room.

_If_ she ever found it that was.

At the rate she was going, Laura was never going to find her way back to the room where her and Jennifer had hidden.

For the next five minutes she walked on in silence, her thoughts wandering back to the tracks on the carpet. Whoever it was must still be nearby. Perhaps in one of the rooms, either hiding from her or waiting for her to pass their position so that they could stalk her from behind. On reflex, she cast a look over her shoulder and found nothing but a suit of armor greeting her. She shook her head, cursing herself for showing such childish fears in the face of what was happening. Now wasn't the time to let her fears take over, she needed to be strong or else something bad could happen to—

—a glint of light from the shadowed alcove to her left caught her attention, giving Laura very little time to react before a figure followed the blade out from the shadows and made a striking arch at her. She stumbled backwards, her injured leg giving out on her and causing her to fall to the floor. The killer took little note of this, the mask hiding any expression that could be given as he took a step towards her. She wasted no time as she swung the pipe in her hands, the piece of metal connecting with his leg, rewarding Laura with a howl as he fell to his knee's.

Wasting not even a moment, she quickly took off down the hall as he continued to howl in pain.

She needed to find somewhere, any where, and quickly.

Around the hall there were several doors that held unknown places to hide, each one she tried however was locked, leaving her running on empty of where she could hide at. Hell, she'd settle for a small crawlspace if that was all that was available for her.

Coming to the final door in the hallway, she found much relief when she discovered that it was not locked and threw herself inside before closing it behind her.

Turning to survey where she had hid herself away at, Laura discovered that she was in the kitchen. A strong, foul stench invaded her nose, the overpowering scent of rotten meat forcing her to use her jacket to cover her nose. To her left stood a sink, rust had consumed much of it and what remained was covered in grime. Above it, the cabinets were in pieces. Most of the doors had been ripped off, what few still were attached weren't far from following its brethren.

Stepping further into the room, Laura walked up to what looked like a pantry full of many cans, jars, and prepackaged foods that lined several rusty metal shelving units. On the ceiling, a pair of dripping pipes that looked to have seen better years was the cause of a puddle of water that was building up on the floor. Making sure not to slip in the water, she moved along towards the back of the kitchen and around the corner out of sight. Much to her displeasure, Laura found herself face to face with what was causing the room to smell so nauseating. Hanging from the ceiling was a group of chains that had hooks attached to it. Several cuts of meat were strung up, festering a ghastly brown in the gloomy light of the room.

Behind her, she could hear the sound of the door creaking open and shuffling footsteps as someone entered. Assumption played little on the idea of who it could be, that soft sheering noise of two blades scraping together was enough to confirm that it was that bastard. It was starting to really annoy Laura at how easily it was for him to trap one of them in a room.

It was as if this were some kind of game of hide-and-seek.

_I can do this...its only a bad smell. Right? It's better than being butchered by some psycho whose probably going to rape my body after he kills me._

Stifling the urge to vomit, Laura slipped in between the festering meat all the way to the very back. The nauseous waves that engulfed her had to without a doubt, be the foulest aroma she'd ever had the displeasure of assaulting her senses. At the end of the lockers, a human shadow reflected off the vague lighting. Moments later, the man with the scissors came into view and stalked down the narrow space towards where she was at. Coming to a stop next to the lockers, he turned to face them, snapping the blades shut with a snap and then plunged them home into the heart of the rusty door.

Watching from the shadows as the Scissorman moved from door to door, her hands clamped down over her mouth to mute her breathing. Once he was done with the lockers, there was no need to guess where he would be searching next.

_Please, don't let it end like this..._ Her eyes closed shut, knowing that her luck had officially run out.

Moving towards the darkened meat rack, Scissorman methodically snapped the blades of his scissors open and closed. He peered into the deep blackness, beady eyes sparkling with the anticipation of blood being spilled. That's when he smelled it, the soft scent of fresh blood in the air. It filled the entire room, very distinct from the rotting meat, but impossible for him to pinpoint its exact origin.

A snort blew from beneath his mask, anger seething with the thought of searching onward. When he had first began hunting the three remaining whores hours ago, it had been nothing but a game to him, a game that _he_ was surely to win. Now, it was becoming a nuisance. He just wanted to butcher these bitch's and go back to his room, the Elder would be much pleased knowing of his triumphant endeavors.

Huddled at the back of the rows of meat, Laura remained completely still. For every silent breath she took, it felt like another opportunity for him to hear her. It didn't help matters that she was sitting on something squishy, her hands had some kind of sticky substance wrapped around them and..._jesus_! There were fucking maggots crawling all over her! Gelatinous, big and juicy, gross maggots!

At that very moment, she fought with every fiber in her body not to scream out. To run from her safe haven (if you could call it that) and risk the chance of dashing past him.

Turning his head to the side in curiosity, Scissorman just stared intently for a moment at the shadowed wall in front of him. Laura could _feel_ him watching her. His gaze danced over her prone form, paralyzing her with absolute fear.

After another moment of peering into the depths, he turned and began walking away.

The sound of a door slamming shut was heard, his heavy feet making loud, thudding stomps as he moved away from the kitchen.

"Thank god," Laura whispered, leaning back against the wall.

Crawling out from her hiding place, Laura made sure to be as quiet as possible as she began to limp past the destroyed lockers. That god awful smell from the meat came with her, no doubt she smelled just as horrid, if not worse. The mirror above the rusting sink was just as filthy as the rest of the room, thankfully it was still clean enough that she could see her own reflection. Not that she really liked was she saw that was. Hiding in that grotesque meat had stained her clothes, her hair and skin were also covered in grime from being pressed against the wall. She looked like a homeless person. In a way, it was almost comical. Before tonight, self preservation had been the last thing on her mind. Certainly hiding in between an abominable thing like that was never something she'd imaged herself doing... but then again, neither was hiding from a serial killer.

Opening the door slowly, her head poked out from behind the wooden shield to survey the hallway to make sure that it was safe. A swift look to the left, then to the right and Laura was assured of her safety before leaving the place.

Discarding her jacket on the floor, she decided to head back the way she had come. Odds are the killer had gone in the opposite direction and Laura didn't think that stalking a kill was such a good idea.

It took some time to back track exactly to where she had been at before encountering the Scissorman, but Laura managed to find the room that her and Jennifer had been hiding in hours ago.

Stopping in front of the door, she took a moment to go over exactly what she needed to look for.

"Where the hell could it be?" Her voice was barely a whisper. She had gone through all the drawers, checked under the couch and around the mantle of the fireplace but had come up empty handed.

It didn't help make it any better that the wound on her leg was starting to hurt again. Judging from the darkening of her pants leg, the wound had reopened while she was running. A shallow puddle was seeping into the carpet, she would need to rebandage it once the time presented itself to do so. For now Laura would just have to fight through the pain.

Behind her, the door opened up. The tall silhouette of a person stood in the door frame before stepping inside the room.

"Laura!" It was Ms. Mary. Her worried expression quickly was replaced by joy as the elder woman walked up to the younger girl, embracing her in a hug. "Thank god you're okay. I was worried sick about you and the others."

Wrapping her arms around Ms. Mary tightly, for the first time in a long time, tears of happiness spilled down her cheeks.

"Have you seen either of the other girls?" She asked. A sniff escaped her, using the sleeve of her long-sleeved shirt to dry her eyes as she stared into the woman's eyes.

Ms. Mary nodded.

"Yes, I came across Lotte out in the gardens. I-I don't know how to tell you this, Laura..." She spoke slowly, every bit a hint of unease in her tone as she struggled for the right words to tell the teenage girl. "Anne...is dead."

"I-I know." Laura whispered, adverting her gaze as the short lived feeling of happiness was once more replaced by that familiar foreboding sense of dread.

Both women stood in silence for a moment, listening to the howling wind and the raging storm outside. Out of all that was going on, it seemed strange that such a tumultuous storm was a sign of normality when such devastating atrocities were going on around them.

"We should probably take my car and head back into town, the two of us can get help." She paused for a moment, trying to console the girl. "I'm sure Lotte and Jennifer will be safe, it shouldn't be more than an hour before we're back with help."

Laura shook her head.

"No," She stammered, trying not to sound harsh. "I can't leave my friends here to be murdered by some freaking psychopath."

For the briefest of moments, Laura could have sworn she saw Ms. Mary sneer at her, but it quickly vanished.

"My dear, we must go now or else we ourselves might perish in this house." Her voice was calm, a bit to calm if you were to ask her.

That raised a question that she herself had been wondering for the last hour. This being the house where the Barrows' lived, how on earth could a serial kill be here? It was that very question that was the grandest of all.

What if...

What if the Barrows' had known about this?!

What if all of this was some plot by them, that they were a family of raving lunatics!?

She remembered watching the classic cult horror movie, Psycho last year with Anne and Jennifer. Remembered how the movie had centered around the Bates family who ran a motel. Of how they'd murdered any and all who were unfortunate enough to wind up at their doors. It was a long shot from anything like the Bates Motel, but Laura was sure that the situation at hand was very much alike. The only thing left was if she would go with the elder woman, or try her luck at finding the others. If she ventured beyond this point on her own, there was no telling what would happen.

Turning her eyes towards Ms. Mary's, she found that there was a look to her that somehow didn't sit right with Laura. She had no reasoning behind this or why she felt that she shouldn't trust the woman, but... what choice did she really have?

Determined and ready to face whatever challenge was laid before her, Laura Harrington's resolve became stronger than ever.

"Okay. I'm ready."


End file.
